


Glass

by Novaauthor13



Category: Split (2016)
Genre: Fan - Freeform, Fanfic, Fanfiction, Gen, James Mcavoy - Freeform, split
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-11
Updated: 2019-05-20
Packaged: 2019-10-08 11:40:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 65
Words: 76,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17385803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Novaauthor13/pseuds/Novaauthor13
Summary: My take on what is going to happen in Glass, this work is already on Wattpad and is completed, bringing it over here for all of you on here to enjoy :), hope you all like it.





	1. Chapter 1

Prologue

Dennis, Patricia and Hedwig observe the shotgun wounds and what little damage it had caused.

"It didn't go through" Dennis panted after he had cleaned up the drying blood from the dead girls that was plastered on his face,neck and chest after the beasts arrival.

"We are what we believe we are" Patricia replied taking over the light as she too marvelled the sheer power the beast had displayed that night.

"Ha Ha holy shit this is so cool" Hedwig replied with a laugh "they're gonna believe we exist now right?" he asked the two older identities.

"They're gonna have to" Dennis replied in his usual low tone before losing the light to Hedwig again.

"So what do we do now?" Hedwig asks smiling before giving the light to Patricia

"We trust in him, he'll protect us, look at what he can do" she declares admiring what little damage a shotgun had caused them before saying with a small smile " let him show the world how powerful he can be"

Meanwhile in a Diner a few miles away from the Philadelphia zoo

A television has been turned on and is blaring out the recent news of the recent unfortunate events that had occurred at the zoo, for obvious reasons the zoo was now closed to the public so that the police could carry out a full investigation without being interrupted too much. Everyone in the diner is silent listening as the reporter carries on with her story. 

"The suspected murderer Kevin Crumb suffers from the controversial psychological disorder DID, the rumours coming out of this scene are unbelievable, there are conflicting feelings about whether the suspect is alive or dead after sustaining two point blank gun shots. reports even indicate that one of his identities is an amalgam of the various animals in the zoo where he works. the press is already referring to the alleged attacker by dark name, leaked to a source close to the case, because of his many personalities he is being called the horde" the reporter informed.

One of the journalists in the diner who has been listening intently to the news coverage starts to recall a case that sounds very familiar to this.

"This is like that crazy guy in the wheelchair that they put away fifteen years ago and they gave him a funny name to, what was it?..." she asks trying to recall the name of that mysterious man that had been found guilty of three terrorist attacks and was now currently serving time in an institution for the criminally insane.

The rugged, tired looking man behind her replied with "Mr Glass" before she walked away to finish off her story. The man in question was none other than David Dunn who just finished the remainder of his cup of coffee before heaving a sigh and thinking to himself 

" Here we go again"


	2. Next move

Two days later...

Dennis was currently tidying up the small run down apartment that they were using as their safe house for the time being. He had been disgusted by the state of this place and it wasn't long before he was moving furniture to a suitable location and using what little cleaning supplies were available to wipe down any unclean surfaces. Once he was finished doing what he could do he looked around inspecting the place, it was a small, run down, two bedroom apartment with an even smaller bathroom and whoever had lived here before hadn't been here for awhile judging by the dust, the peeling wallpaper revealing a thick, black blanket of mold that was growing in one corner of the second bedroom which made Dennis grimace.

"Please tell me we are not planning to stay here very long" Dennis moaned to Patricia

"We'll stay here as long as we need to Dennis as long as The Beast commands" Patricia snapped she was getting tired of Dennis's constant moaning about the cleanliness of this place and it had been a long two days anyway. 

Dennis sighed as he carried on with what little he could do, he was exhausted but refused to sleep before the place looked at least semi-decent, as he carried on with wiping down a table he thought about the past week.

If anyone had told him a year ago that he would now be the one standing in the light and had kidnapped three girls to feed to the most powerful of all of Kevin's alters he would have probably laughed at them and told them that was never going to happen, and yet here he was two days later having done all those things.

Not to mention The Beast, Dennis wasn't afraid of many things or people, being the ex protector of the group meant you would be a pretty pathetic one if you were afraid of your own shadow, but The Beast actually terrified Dennis, he knew he was stronger and bigger than all of them but he didn't realize how powerful he was until he took over the right, until than he was just a presence he could just brush off the shoulder or ignore, when he took over there was one thing Dennis could honestly say he felt in this alter and that was pure, untamed, rage. Rage wasn't unfamiliar to Dennis he took on the brunt of Kevin's mothers rage for years to know what it was but at least with his mother there was some sense of control of that rage, The Beasts rage was relentless, powerful and terribly unforgiving and that terrified him.

"As long as he protects Kevin you have nothing to fear" he tried to reassure himself but he couldn't shake off this feeling that The beast could quite easily turn on any of them if they stepped out of line and God knows what would happen if he did.

"Dennis are you done with cleaning the same spot on that table yet? you've been at it for ten minutes" Patricia asked him with a disapproving tone.

"Yes, Yes I'm done uh I was just wondering what is our next move?" he asked with a hint of nervousness he couldn't quite place.

"The Beast is resting for now, it is our job to prepare for his arrival again by locating more impure young" Patricia explained impatiently "I'm sure you can handle it again can't you since you did such a good job last time" she remarked sarcastically.

"I had no idea that she was pure, I had no reason to believe she would be" Dennis argued 

"shh shh Dennis I am tired of your poor excuses originally you were only supposed to bring back two, but your disgusting tendencies we ended up with more than we needed which nearly ended up with them getting away and us getting caught" Patricia 

"She was in the car with them what was I supposed to do let her run she would have gone straight to the police and you know that" Dennis roared his frustration getting the better of him

"That's enough Dennis for now we rest, get our strength back and start planning, when the time comes I do hope you won't mess this up this time The Beast would not be pleased with either of us otherwise" Patricia declared before going silent signalling to Dennis that the conversation was over for now.

A few hours later Dennis settled down on one of the beds in the cleaner of the two rooms, he tried to sleep but like always it never came easily to him it was made worse by the still dirty place he was staying and the fact he was still thinking about the conversation with Patricia, was she threatening him when she said the beast wouldn't be pleased if he messed up again? he was very confused by that statement, what was she not telling him?. Dennis hated being kept in the dark and had the feeling that Patricia hadn't told him everything about The Beast or their plans.

He thought about it for a few more hours before he finally drifted away to sleep.


	3. Crime Scene

Philadelphia zoo had been closed now for two days for police investigations since one of the three kidnapped girls, Casey Cooke, had been discovered. Detective Inspector Emma Price had been put in charge of finding any evidence or leads which could help locate the kidnapper Kevin Wendell Crumb. She arrived at the zoo around 6:45 am and was greeted by sergeant Harry Briggs the leading police officer at the site.

"It's good to see you here Emma it's a hell of a mess down there anything you can give us would be extremely helpful" Briggs said shaking Emma's hand as a greeting.

"Well I hope I will be able to shed some light on this case for you sergeant is it this way?" Emma asked curtly eager to get started on the investigation.

Briggs chuckled as they started towards the crime scene 

"Of course it's always like you to want to get started straight away, some things will never change will they" Briggs joked amused by his colleagues impatience to start the case.

"No I suppose they won't" Emma sighed "so what have we got?" she asked 

"One body has been found so far which belongs to an elderly woman, her name is Karen Fletcher who we believe was some kind of doctor, time of death has been put around twenty four hours ago and of course there were no witnesses at the time" 

"Other than Miss Cooke did you question her or examine the body" Emma asked Briggs.

"Well we have examined the body it would appear she died of asphyxiation but that's all we got for now,I would give you a description but something tells me you would want to look at the body yourself, as for Miss Cooke we thought it would be best to give her time to recover before asking her anything, this sort of thing to happen to someone at a young age... it must be quite distressing for her"Briggs answered before ducking under the police tape

"Indeed it must be, any ideas where our suspect could have gone?" Emma asked putting on her white disposable gloves and doing the same. 

"None, one minute he was there the next poof vanished and no ones seen head nor tail of him anywhere, all we know is he didn't have a car here so he can't have gone too far, well here we are" Briggs said stopping at a large iron gate which led to where the man investigation was taking place.

Emma and Briggs waited patiently as one of Briggs's officers opened the gate for them 

"So your the inspector, you here to see what's happened try and find our murderer" the officer asked 

"I am yes" Emma replied not really one for small talk.

"Good it's pretty crazy down there not gonna lie " he said before heading up the way they came to keep an eye on the press that had arrived early hoping to catch anything new for their reports.

"Has anyone else been down here since the body was found?" Emma asked before turning on the torch which she kept in her pocket before entering the first room.

"nah the boss said to keep everyone out until you got here said we were in way over or heads on this one so we better hope you find something good around here, you've only got an hour so make it quick" Briggs replied looking hopefully at her as he entered the room with her.

Emma entered a room which was full with several clothes racks full of different sets of clothing, both male and female, next to them was a small computer. Curious she turned it on to be greeted by a screen of twenty three different video logs all with different names, three of which seemed to be slightly further away from the rest. Before she could figure out what this meant she heard Briggs calling her name frantically.

She raced out of the room she was in and started walking towards the sound of Briggs's voice. She was greeted with a ghostly pale faced Briggs, his eyes were wide and he was struggling to keep his breathing steady.

"Briggs are you alright? what have you found?" Emma asked nervously not used to seeing Briggs in such a state.

All he did was point a shaking finger down a corridor saying "you need to see this for yourself" he stammered.

Emma patted his shoulder and made her way down the corridor, the smell hit her straight away it was the smell of a rotting corpse, as she covered her nose she carried on down the corridor until she came across two open doors one of which was hanging off its hinges like something or someone had pushed it clean off the other seemed in better condition. Emma heard the sound of buzzing and realised how many flies were swarming that area.

"Oh God no" she whispered not wanting to find what she did in there.

In there she saw the dead body of a girl with blonde hair, her face was barely recognisable because of the blood that was covered on it. Emma examined the rest of the body and what she saw made hr urge, it looked as if the girl had been eaten alive, bits of intestine were falling out of her and the blood was thickest here. Unable to look at her anymore Emma made her way to the other room and saw a similar situation in there this time with a dark haired girl.

"Briggs" Emma called over her shoulder "get some men in here to get the bodies out of here then..." her voice breaking "inform the parents we found their daughters"


	4. Parents guilt

Emma was just about to release a statement to the press after the most recent discoveries that they had made. It hadn't been an easy afternoon, both the girls parents were informed about their daughters demise, the mother of the blonde haired girl, Claire, collapsed and broke into a fit of tears after Emma had told them about their daughters fate. Emma tried to comfort them but she knew the only thing they would want right now was justice which could only be granted to them when the murderer was put behind bars, her job was to make sure that happened.

Emma was walking towards the press when someone grasped her arm in a vice like grip, Emma instinctively flinched away from the contact hating herself as a small whimper left her, she turned around to face the person who still had his hand locked onto her arm and realised it was Claire's father.

His eyes were puffy and bloodshot and held a mixture of sorrow and anger, his face was streaked with the remains of tear streaks that had made their way down his face and his shirt was all crinkled where his wife had been holding onto him when she was crying. Emma managed to wrench her arm free before turning around to face him.

"What can I do for you sir?" She asked warily, she knew what people were like in the stages of grief and Claire's father had been hit the most by this revelation, Emma knew he felt guilty about being knocked unconscious and letting Kevin drive away with the girls but his guilt was slowly bu surely turning into hatred for the killer and hatred made people do stupid things.

"I know your busy and all so I'll make this quick, I need to ask you a favour" he said in a quiet but manic tone.

"what is it?" Emma asked nervously not liking where this conversation is going, she could feel goosebumps starting to form all up her arms.

"When you catch that son of a bitch, not if but when, I want you to kill him for me" he stated like he'd just asked her to do his weekly shopping.

"Sir I understand that you are upset, you want justice this is the most normal response to something like this, but what your asking from me will make neither of us any better than him, you understand this I know you do, think about your daughter she wouldn't want you to do this" Emma tried to reason with him hoping that the mention of his daughter may diffuse him somewhat.

The man chuckled maniacally before saying in a cracked voice full of raw emotion "My daughter was torn apart like an animal and your saying you won't do anything about it, ha and you call yourself police officers" 

"Yes that's right we are police officers not vigilantes sir, now I can assure you that we are doing everything in our power to catch the suspect what I will not do is standby or take part in murdering someone, no matter if they are a criminal or not now if you'll excuse me I have to make a statement to the press" 

With that Emma walked away from the father and went to Briggs before stepping in front of the cameras she whispered to him 

"Keep an eye on Claire's father I think he may try to cause trouble for us" Briggs nodded in response as Emma walked off to face the press.


	5. Game Changer

Dennis had just come back to the apartment after scouting the area for suitable impures with Patricia, she seemed eager to get started with this new assignment as did The Beast who was growing impatient with the lack of fresh meat.

"HOW MUCH LONGER MUST WE WAIT" The Beast roared making Dennis wince as a new wave of fear washed over him.

"shh not long now, we have found a few worthy candidates we are just waiting for the right moment to grab them" Patricia assured The Beast unafraid of his outbursts, although she seemed to be the only one of them that wasn't. 

The Beast, clearly not satisfied with her answer but knowing there was nothing to be done until they arrived settled down and retreated back to the train station where he spent his time when not in the light.

Dennis slid a hand across his head and let out a shaky breath he didn't realise he was holding before getting on with some more cleaning, the apartment was looking much better now since Dennis had spent most of his time when he was here cleaning the place, he had managed to get rid of the worst of the mold in the other room and had managed to fix the plumbing with some tools he had found in one of the cupboards so at least now they had water in there as well.

He had also found a TV which surprisingly still worked, Dennis turned it on whilst taking a break Patricia insisted he had and was greeted by the news channel he was about to turn it over when he heard something that made his heart go up to his throat.

"Still no sign on the whereabouts of Kevin Crumb the alleged murderer of three people, one of which has been identified as Doctor Karen Fletcher who specialised in helping people with Dissociate identity disorder, the others have been confirmed to be the other two girls who were kidnapped alongside sole survivor Casey Cooke, Inspector Emma Price is now releasing a statement on the current investigation"

"This is soo boring can we watch something else etcetera" Hedwig chimed in trying to take the light so he could change the channel 

"Shut up Hedwig this is important" Dennis snapped not wanting to miss any of this

"But Miss Patricia said that I could watch cartoons if I was good today and I have been good all day et cetera"

"You can watch cartoons later right now I need to listen to something I'll let you have the light for the rest of the evening if you do"Dennis reasoned with Hedwig 

"Okay thank you Mr Dennis" 

Dennis rolled his eyes and paid attention to the TV again just as the inspector was preparing to speak. She was fairly young, in her twenties at least, she had long blonde hair which reached to her shoulders and she was wearing a navy blue jacket over a white shirt, she cleared her throat before she started to speak.

"As you are all aware we have been investigating the scene of a dreadful event which has led to three people being found dead, time of death has been put around about 42 hours ago, we have identified the bodies one is an elderly lady called Karen Fletcher the other two were the other two girls who were senselessly kidnapped alongside sole survivor Miss Casey Cooke, their deaths are being classed as murders and the man responsible for this Kevin Crumb is being considered as our highest priority at this moment, we are urging everyone in the area to speak up if they know or find out something about the suspect to speak up in order to help us catch this man and in order to avoid anymore kidnappings in the local area there will be a curfew, for anyone aged 17 or under you are to be back at home before 9 pm until we can assure the safety of the people in the area to be out after those hours " 

Emma said as she started walking away the press tried to push forward asking her more questions about the murders or the suspect before she was escorted into the passenger seat of a police car before driving.

Dennis stared at the scene at the screen as the journalist who was on before the inspector was back on the screen.

"That was Inspector Price releasing a statement about the investigation, although Inspector Price hasn't yet confirmed if this is true or just speculation many people are comparing this crime to another case which happened fifteen years ago, the main suspect being Elijah Price who is commonly referred to as Mr Glass due to his fragile bones, who was arrested and sent to Philadelphia mental institution for the criminally insane after being the primary suspect of several terrorist attacks, in fact there are even rumours that these crimes are connected, if this is the case are these criminals somehow working together and if so what will they do next"

"Looks like we caused more fear than anticipated" Patricia remarked

"Indeed we did" Dennis replied "however it will make taking more impures a little bit harder"

"Forget about the impures" The Beast growled "there is a pure soul trapped in one of their prisons, he must be freed" 

"But how do we do that it's not exactly a walk in walk out kind of job this will be a highly maximised secure area, with guards trained to kill" Dennis stated 

"You leave that to me I am nearly at full strength and when I am we will take him, soon they will see how powerful the broken really are" replied The Beast


	6. Troubling Vision

David Dunn was having dinner with his son and wife when he heard his phone ringing, he looked at the screen and saw that Emma was trying to call him, something must have made her desperate to have considered calling him. It wasn't because they were on bad terms but their methods were totally polar opposite which sometimes caused them to argue with each other on what the best method should be.

David's method usually consisted of finding the criminal yourself and dealing with them there and then and worrying about the consequences later, it got the job done quicker and ended up with them behind bars a lot quicker.

Emma would try to find all possible evidence about a suspect before taking them down which usually took time and either ended up with more people getting hurt or gave the suspect more chances to escape justice, something David wasn't a fan of.

David excused himself from the table before walking to his study and answering the phone.

"To what do i owe the honor of getting a phone call from you Emma" David asked humorously

"Oh I don't know I thought you might be bored and want to check something out for me" Emma answered back in a similar tone. 

"It's about the horde isn't it?"he asked in a slightly more serious tone

He heard Emma sigh down the phone before saying "You know I wouldn't be calling you if I didn't think it was serious"

"What did you find Emma"

"I think it would be easier or you to see for yourself" Emma said in a shaky tone that piqued his curiosity straight away, Emma sounded nervous which was really not like her.

"Okay I'm on my way" he said before hanging up and coming out of the study.

David was greeted by his wife Audrey who was looking at him with a worried expression etched all over her face.

"Who was that on the phone David?" she asked 

"Oh it was just Emma she's found something to do with the case, she wants me to take a look at I'm sure it won't take too long" David reassured her whilst putting on his boots and grabbing his jacket and leaning over to kiss her on the cheek.

"Okay be careful David" Audrey called to him as he opened the door and unlocked the car.

"I always am" he replied giving her a small smile before getting in the car and driving away.

It was only a half an hour drive to the station where Emma was waiting outside to greet him, they met halfway and greeted each other as they shook hands before entering the police station and heading to the room where the bodies were being kept.

"so what's got you so rattled then your never this nervous about murder cases" David tried to pluck some sort of information as to why Emma was acting differently.

"Well I think with what we've found it's fair to say this isn't an ordinary case" Emma said cryptically.

"What did you find?" he pressed

"Before I show you I need to ask you something, it may seem a bit forward but, you know you can see visions of what people have done?, could you possibly do that with someone who has passed away?" Emma asked curiously.

David looked at her slightly perplexed by her question, she was one of very few people who knew who he was and about his ability to see into people's lives, he closed his eyes and breathed in and out a few times before answering.

"I'm not sure Emma, I mean I've never really tried it on a dead person before..., why are you asking?"

"Because we don't know what happened to the bodies, well it's more of a case f we don't want to believe what we think may have happened to them" Emma explained, looking into his eyes and seeing his confusion Emma put her hand on the door and pushed it open, revealing three filled black leather body-bags.

"I told everyone to take a break for half an hour ago, that was fifteen minutes ago so you have fifteen minutes to help me figure things out" Emma explained

"You want me to see if I can picture what happened to them before they died, Emma this is insane even for you" David argued.

"Look I wish there was an alternative way to do this but I need to confirm my suspicions, trust me this isn't the work of an ordinary murderer right now, please David I really need your help right now, your the only other person I can trust to help me on this one" Emma tried to reason

"Fine just tell me how you think they died first"

"Well Miss Fletcher was killed by asphyxiation, the young girls were, well we think they were... eaten" Emma stammered on the last part.

"Eaten" David repeated

"Yeah, cannibalized whatever you want to call it, they look like they have had bits of their skin ripped off, like what a lion or something would do to its prey" Emma whimpered going a sickly pale color before closing her eyes and leaning on a table, breathing heavily.

"Okay I'll see what I can do, but I can't make any promises that it will work" David answered solemnly before making his way over to the bag which held Claire's lifeless body inside and unzipping it enough for him to make contact with the body. He held his breath before slowly making contact with her arm, seconds later he was transported to a different place and time.

He saw Claire in a small closet, he assumed it was a closet because it was so small, she was lying down on the floor, weeping about something, when the door swung open and Casey Cooke stood at the entrance telling her to go, Claire was quite weak at this point that much was obvious she was clearly fatigued at this point. She tried to get up but before she could a large muscular hand grabbed her leg and dragged her behind the shelves, the last thing David saw before her death was the maniacal face of an animal but on a mans body, his eyes were wild with the pupils so dilated they appeared almost black in color and his veins were sticking out all over his neck and all around his large muscular chest, he stared down at Claire with an unsettling grin, revealing blood on his teeth before attacking the flesh on her abdomen, it happened so quickly she died without making a sound, not so much as a scream, her only thought was "The Beast" before everything faded to black. David wrenched his hand free of the body, panting and glistening with sweat, he would have keeled over right on the floor if Emma hadn't been waiting with a chair which he eagerly sat down in.

Emma passed her a glass of water before asking

"What happened to you?" her voice full of concern

"I saw him Emma, you were right it's all true he did eat those girls, he's a monster, he's unlike anything I've ever seen before" was all he could say before he passed out completely

Emma let him be for the time being trying to contain the vast array of emotions she was feeling in this moment, whatever David had seen had definitely scared him and whatever had happened it was much worse than Emma had previously anticipated, but to get a clear understanding on what she was up against she was going to have to talk to someone who knew him, she was going to have to talk to Casey Cooke


	7. Murderers Face

David woke up still sat in the wooden chair Emma managed to pull him into before he lost consciousness, he tried to sit up but immediately felt dizzy so decided against the idea and remained slouched in his chair. He looked around and saw Emma sat on a similar wooden chair, leaning forward, with her face in her hands just a few meters away from him.

"Emma" David managed to croak out, but it got her attention since she moved her hands away from her face to reveal her weary, bloodshot eyes.

"Hey your awake, I was starting to worry you wouldn't wake up" she said relief written on her face as she passed him a cup of water which he gladly accepted

"Seriously how long have I been out for? he asked

"Just under an hour, but David seriously what happened to you in there, one minute you were fine the next you came out rambling incoherently before keeling over"

"I...I don't know, I felt fine until I finally saw him before he killed the girl, and what I saw wasn't good just his presence alone... he felt dangerous Emma are you sure you still want find this guy" David asked seriously

Emma raised an eyebrow "What did he look like?" she asked patiently interlocking her fingers together and leaning in her seat. David took a deep breath before closing his eyes to picture the nightmarish image.

"He was tall and muscular, he had a buzz cut style haircut, he's at least twice the size of an average man, his veins were running all along his body sort of like a map on his skin, and his eyes were almost black from where the pupils had dilated so much and his smile... it was demonic, teeth filled with blood almost like he was an animal as opposed to a man, there was no mercy in that man's face" David's voice broke unable to carry on with the description of the murderer.

Emma sighed and looked down at the floor her shoulders slouching "I'm sorry I put you through that it was stupid and reckless and it won't happen again, I was just so desperate for answers I was willing to put you in harms way to get them" Emma looked back up disgust written in her face at what she had done.

"Hey your always forgiven Emma, I understand the pressure of trying to find answers when you can't I don't blame you at all" David reassured her "I do have one question though"

"Which is?" 

"Are you really going after this guy?"

Emma heaved a sigh as she stood up she looked older now, a huge responsibility had been placed on her back one he knew she wasn't going to put to rest until it was over, even at the cost of her own well being.

"I have to, he's a criminal, besides how many people will be put at risk if we let him be, a curfew won't stop him, it might make things more difficult but it's not a permanent solution, people, get careless and make mistakes, all it takes is for a few of them to still be outside after curfew and the whole cycle begins again and I'll be damned if I let that happen" Emma answered defiantly locking her eyes with Davids

Knowing she wasn't going to back down David broke contact from her icy stare, he knew she wasn't going to stop but this man, Kevin Crumb, seemed too much of a match for her.

"What do you plan to do next?" David asked to break the awkward silence that had filled the room making it difficult to breath. Emma turned her back to him and put her hands on her hips.

"I'm planing to meet Casey Cooke tomorrow, she's the only one that got away I want to make sure she is doing okay, also she may be able to answer any unanswered questions I now have, thank you for your help today David it really has been appreciated, anyway it's getting late and you should be spending this time with your family not here" Emma said making it obvious that their conversation was over for now.

"Okay just be careful and if you do need help please call me, you don't have to do this alone you know even if you think you do" Emma nodded in acknowledgement but didn't say anything else to that.

David could see she needed time by herself to think things through and wasn't willing to push her any further, besides today had been stressful enough without the need of making Emma angry as well so he bid her farewell one more time before heading to his car. When driving back home David felt worried about her, Kevin Wendell Crumb did not look like he would be an easy guy to bring in if at all and he was worried Emma was gong to do something reckless, which wouldn't be the first time. All he could do though was go home and wait for her to call him if she needed him, he'd learnt not to push her to far or she was willing to distance herself from you completely with no second thoughts, if she wanted to tell you something she would on her own terms, that's the way it would always be. So David would wait until that phone call happened no matter how long that took. 

Emma watched David leave before turning back to head towards her office. Once she got there she slumped in her office chair and wrote up the description she had been given about Kevin's appearance in David's vision. As bad as she felt for what had happened to him at least she finally got some information about her number one suspect "its a start" she thought as she looked at the description that was written up so far.


	8. Meeting Casey Cooke

Emma pulled up to the Cooke's house the next day, she hadn't been up here since that day she escorted her back to her house with her uncle just in case her attacker returned, she meant to come back to check on her but with everything going on she just hadn't found the time, she knew that wasn't a good enough excuse really and she felt guilty about not coming over sooner.

She took a deep breath before getting out of her car and walking up to the front door which had an enormous deer rack above it, it must have been a big animal to be able to support such a big rack Emma admired it a moment longer before knocking twice on the door with the old fashioned, iron knocker that was in the middle of the door.

The door opened and Caseys Uncle John stood at the frame, looking incredibly intimidating as he looked Emma up and down.

"What do you want?" he asked rudely in a gruff tone, the smell of alcohol on his breath made Emma's mind foggy as she stepped back to breath in some fresher air.

"John Cooke you probably don't remember me, Detective Price, I'm here to talk to your niece Casey about recent events" Emma said showing him her badge "may I come in? Emma asked when she wasn't given an invite.

John laughed nervously looking behind him before saying

"That's completely out of the question, she's upstairs doing her homework and you know the house is a complete mess I wouldn't recommend coming in today maybe we can arrange for another time" he said before trying to slam the door in Emma's face but she caught it just in time thankful for steel toe capped boots and started pushing the door with her hand.

"Oh I'm sure it's fine, you know I deal with murder cases I've probably seen worse than what the state of your house is in sir" Emma managed to say not taking no for an answer before making a gap in the door big enough to slip inside before John slammed the door which made a loud bang as it hit the frame.

Contrary to what John had told him the house was actually quite tidy, sure there were a few areas where bottles of whiskey had been thrown to one side, a few dishes were stacked haphazardly on a glass coffee table which were threatening to fall over at any given moment and empty shotgun shell boxes littered the floor but Emma had definitely seen a lot worse.

"Hey I said I didn't want you in here now I'm gonna ask you again to leave" John said his face turning a bright shade of beetroot red

"It's alright Mr Cooke all I want to do is talk to Casey about a few things then I'll be on my way" Emma said calmly despite the fact there was a much bigger and angrier man standing only a few meters away from her, Emma for the most part wasn't phased too much by him, he was intimidating that was for sure but Emma had been dealing with people like him for many years to be scared easily by him.

There was a silent tension that stood between the two of them before Emma heard a creak on the floorboards to the stairs she looked up to see a tall, beautiful, brown haired girl standing at the top of the stairs, Emma knew straight away that it was Casey she hadn't changed a bit since the ride home, she stood at the top of the stairs looking directly at Emma but avoided looking in her eyes.

"Ah Casey I don't know if you remember me.."

"Your the police officer who escorted us home I remember" Casey interrupted

"Is it alright if I ask you a few questions?" Emma asked calmly

"That depends on what" she said nervously her eyes starting to shift quickly.

"I want to talk about Kevin Wendell Crumb, it's okay we can take our time, you can tell me whatever your comfortable with sharing and I promise I won't force you to say anything if you don't want to" Emma reassured climbing up the first two stairs before John shouted

"Wait a minute this is my house I asked you to leave, I don't want no good for nothing scumbag cop snooping around my house" he yelled before grabbing Emma's arm and slamming her into a wall.

Emma not expecting the move was momentarily dazed, she put a finger to her nose and felt blood starting to drip out from her left nostril. Before she could get back up John had grabbed her hair and threw her into the sitting room, Emma managed to put her arm out so her elbow took the full force of her landing and she felt the skin tear.

Emma heard Casey yell at her Uncle and managed to lift her head in time to see her try to push him away from her earning her a smack along the face which echoed in the room as Casey collapsed on the floor. Emma managed to get up to her feet and was fuelled with an intense new rage which she used to catch John's arm as he went to hit Casey again before letting out a primal sounding growl and flipping him over so that his body crashed onto the coffee table which smashed under his weight. It wasn't enough to knock him out but it was enough to both daze and startle him and he let out a groan before Emma put his hands in the spare cuffs she luckily brought with her before calling the station and chucking John into the back of her cruiser before locking the doors.

She walked back into the house to check on Casey who was still crouching in the same shocked position where her Uncle had slapped her.

"Are you okay?" Emma asked kneeling to take a look at the red mark that was forming on her left cheek. Casey just shook her head in response, tears rolling down her face "has he done this to you before Casey?" Emma asked in a calm, reassuring voice.

Casey nodded before gulping hard and saying in a quiet voice "I... I've just never had someone defend me like that before, how did you do it I mean he's so much bigger than you" she stammered.

"Well that's probably a story for another time, it's a bit of a long one" Emma replied wiping the sweat off of her brow with her jacket before smiling up at Casey who returned the smile.

"I don't think we were properly introduced my name is Emma Price" she said extending her hand to Casey.

"Casey Cooke, pleased to meet you Emma" Casey smiled amused at the normality of the conversation after what had just happened and shaking Emma's hand gently.

They carried on with this light conversation until the police showed up to assist with taking John to the station and to give Casey and Emma medical attention before they were escorted back to the station as well to finish the rest of their conversation.


	9. Prison Break (part one)

Dennis scanned the entrance to the asylum where Elijah Price was being held.He was crouched underneath some tall bushes in order to keep himself as hidden as he could before the initial break in.

The building itself looked like some sort of Victorian factory, with small windows with large metal bars on the outside and a large metal door on the other side of the fence. There were four tall towers on each corner of the wall that surrounded the building with spotlights and guards on duty, there were two at the tall, spiked gate that served as the main entrance into the asylum and Dennis suspected there were more inside . The whole place felt dark and depressing and gave Dennis a sense of unease like he shouldn't be here.

The plan was simple enough Dennis was to draw out as many guards as he could and get inside the rest was up to The Beast who Dennis could feel stirring at the back of his head. The fear Dennis was feeling started to increase as did his breathing and pulse which he fought to control, closing his eyes and putting his hand on his beating chest he started taking deep breaths to calm himself as much as he could.

"What's the matter Dennis feeling scared?" The Beast taunted, Dennis flinched and could almost picture the grin on his face.

"No I just don't see why this is all necessary for just one man" Dennis retorted

"We've been through this he is one of us, he is pure and these filthy, puny impures think that they can keep one of us in their weak excuse of a prion they are deeply mistaken, we are the more evolved and now it is time to show the world exactly what we are capable of doing" The beast growled he ws getting tired of Dennis's excuses, why couldn't he be more like the others who followed him without question?.

Dennis knew better than to argue with The Beast so he kept quiet and hoped nothing would go wrong, he didn't want Kevin or the others getting hurt because of The Beast's irrational behaviour but he couldn't see another option he was too weak to take on The Beast by himself and if he was pushed out of the light and forced to sleep what would happen to the rest of the others? no he couldn't afford to think about that he still had a job to do. With that in mind Dennis took one more shaky breath and and began to run towards the black spiked gates.

He was only a few meters away when he was spotted he heard the sound of rifles being lifted to face him as he kept making his way to the gate.

"Freeze" Dennis stopped in his tracks as a guard in green khaki military uniform and a beret started walking towards him, his polished black leather boots picking up gravel every time he took a step "State your name and business in this area sir" he said in a deep voice as he came over to inspect Dennis.

"My name isn't important sir, I'm just here to see a friend of mine that's all" Dennis explained to the guard who still had his weapon trained on him 

"Have you booked an appointment?" the guard asked 

"No" Dennis stated bluntly

"Well Mister no name, there's only one way you get through these gates and that is through an appointment, so if you don't have one how about you piss off back to where you came from" the guard said before pushing Dennis to the ground and walking away back to his post.

"You don't seem to understand sir you will let us in there tonight" Dennis said losing control to The Beast with every second spent with this insufferable guard, he could feel him want to take over.

"Us, there are more of you out there how about they come out and show themselves as well eh I'll give you all a piece of my mind" he yelled to the empty field surrounding the place.

"Oh there is one who is especially eager to meet you in fact you could say he'd kill to see you" Dennis remarked with an evil grin plastered on his face as The Beast started to corrupt his thoughts.

"oh yeah well where is he then?" the guard asked kneeling down to come face to face with Dennis who's face had glazed over as The Beast emerged into the light.

"Right here" He growled before grabbing the guard by the throat and quickly snapping his neck before hearing the other guard by the gate curse before cocking the weapon and pointing it at the site where The Beast had been.

The guard turned around slowly checking everywhere for any sign of movement or indication where this man could have gone. Panicking he turned around and ran towards the gate whilst grabbing his radio from his belt buckle.

"Attention, attention a guard is down I repeat a guard is down, request immediate back up someone is trying to get in secure the doors and don't let........" the guard sending the message was cut short when The Beast tackled him to the floor before snatching the radio away from him and crushing it in his hand whilst crushing his windpipe with the other.

"Who...what are you?" the guard croaked as The Beast

"The more evolved" The Beast growled before punching him with enough force he split his head open.

"Filthy impure" he whispered before climbing up the wall to get into the asylum.


	10. Prison break (part 2)

The Beast makes it to the top of the wall before hearing a loud siren starting to alert the guards of his presence, he can hear the guards shouting over the siren and can see them lining up outside the large metal door door, guns in hand, in a weak attempt to keep him at bay.

Crouching at the edge of the wall, The Beast smiled at the carnage he was causing, savouring the smell of fear that he was causing in the guards.

"Oh look they think their guns will save them I think it's time we showed them the error of their ways" The Beast growled talking to the others before jumping off the wall and landing feet first on the hard concrete surface with ease, before turning his gaze to the ensemble of guards lined up by the door. His eyes scanned over them, gaining information on each guard, fifteen in total all had armed forces style uniform with matching berets, uniforms and rifles. The guard standing in the middle was definitely the leader of this failed attempt to keep him out.

"Sir I am giving you one chance to surrender right now, put your hands on your head and get down on your knees I suggest you take it" the man barked at The Beast.

The Beast just looked up at him and grinned

"You think your weapons will save you, you think I am human, I am so much more I am more evolved you are weak compared with my strength and now it is time for you to die" The Beast roared before lunging towards the guards, one fired their weapon the bullet hit The Beast's right shoulder which made him slow down for only a second before he recovered.

His anger increased as he looked down at his shoulder the wound was already closing and what little blood had come out was slowly making its way down his chest, how dare these filthy impures fire at him, he was a god compared to them, and they thought their puny guns would stop him, they had no idea who they were dealing with.

The Beast looked at the man who had shot him who was wearing a look of shock as The Beast started to recover, with a maniacal grin he said.

"That's it you die first" and before anyone could react to him The Beast had managed to close the gap between him and the guards and carried him away before anyone could react. The Beast had him by the throat and was holding him so tight his face was turning blue.

"Sir put him down now" the guard in charge yelled at him in a panicky tone while The Beast continued crushing his victims windpipe.

"You shouldn't have let your man fire that gun, now you can watch as he dies before I kill you, you want to know how powerful we can be, you will witness it firsthand" The Beast roared before throwing the guard at the wall with so much force his back broke and approaching the others with a violent fire burning in his eyes.

"Open fire, open fire, do not let him get inside the building" the leader yelled before firing his rifle.

The bullets did little more then slow The Beast down as he ran towards them, he tackled his first victim to the ground and dug his nails into the mans flesh making him scream in agony as he ripped out the skin on his neck making him bleed to death. His second victim was taken out with a knife he had found on his first victim which he plunged into his chest, knowing full well that it had gone through the heart. The others he threw against the metal door, denting the metal as he did, before finally grabbing the leaders arm and pulling it until it snapped before pinning him to the door smashing his now bloodied face against the ice cold metal he yelled out in pain as his arm fell limply to his side and his head started to throb.

"Wh...why are you doing this?" the leader whimpered

"You have someone I want, someone who is pure and needs to be freed, tell me did you lock him up because he was pure or because of his power" The Beast whispered menacingly 

"We locked him up because he's a fucking psychopath, just like you" the leader said before shooting The Beast in the stomach with his pistol, it wasn't enough to kill him but it still made him collapse to his knees, clutching his stomach he moaned as he tried to get back up but stopped when he felt the barrel of a pistol pointed at his head. 

"That's it one shot to the stomach and your out for the count, what an anti-climatic ending, so much for being the more evolved one huh turns out your the same as all the other nuts in this place" the guard taunted as he placed his finger on the trigger.

"If there is one thing you should know about me it's this..." The Beast said before plunging his nails into the stomach and ripping through the flesh of the guard before "I am nothing like them" and with that he pulled out a handful of bloody guts, leaving a gaping, bloody hole in the stomach of the now dead guard, before throwing them on the floor.

The Beast looked back at the grisly scene one more time before climbing up the wall and ripping the metal bars off before smashing one of the windows in the building in order to get in. He found himself in an all white cell lit up by a single florescent light. There was only a bed and a toilet in the way of furniture and in the middle of the room as if by chance was the man he was looking for sat in a wooden chair holding a long wooden cane.

"What the hell, who the hell are you supposed to be? Elijah Price asked surprise written on his face as he moved himself closer to The Beast

"Mr Glass we finally meet, I am here to offer you freedom in return for one thing"

"I'm listening" Glass replied

"I need your help right now we are two men trying to create a better world, maybe together we can see that dream fulfilled" 

Mr Glass paused for a moment considering his proposal before nodding his head and saying 

"Okay get me outta here"

The Beast smiled before picking up Mr Glass and jumping out of his broken window before landing on the ground and going back for the cane. Before the beast could leave another guard entered the room holding a pistol in his shaking hand.

"We can't let you leave freak, your too dangerous to not be taken down" he said his voice quivering with fear.

The Beast walked up to him putting a hand on the pistol and tugging it out of his hand and dropping it on the floor.

"You shouldn't have called me freak" how whispered in the guards ear before taking the pin out of the grenade that was strapped to his jacket and pushing him into the corridor and jumping out the window with the cane in his hand just as the explosion went off.

"I heard about you on the news, didn't think you were anything too special" Mr Glass informed the beast before getting up using the cane for support.

"I hope this has changed your opinion of me" the beast answered 

"Oh believe me it has" Glass replied in shock

"we should get moving, they may have called back up, I don't want to be here when they arrive" The Beast said urgently whilst walking to the metal gate and bending the bars back easily enough for them to walk through them.

Whilst he waited for Glass to get through he saw a silhouette of a person watching them in the distance of the field, he studied them and realised it was the Detective from the news Dennis had been watching earlier.

Neither of them moved they just studied each other silently from there positions before The beast turned away and led Glass to the car Dennis had stolen from the blonde girls father all those weeks ago.

Emma watched as The Beast walked away with Elijah Price limping closely behind him until they disappeared out of sight. She sighed as she shook her head and reached into her jacket pocket pulling out her phone.

"David it's Emma, I need you to meet me outside the asylum Elijah was being held...there's been a break in, yes you heard correctly bring all the services I get the feeling we're going to need them" Emma said before hanging up the phone and looking up at the carnage her suspect had caused.


	11. Discussing Identities

five hours before asylum break in...

Casey Cooke had had quite an eventful evening after Emma Price had arrested her Uncle for attacking her and hitting Casey. 

Once the back up Emma had called on to assist her arrived at their house Emma and Casey had been driven to the station to be given medical attention, not that there was much to take care of anyway. On the ride to the station Casey explained to Emma exactly what her Uncle had been doing to her all these years, she told Emma everything,when he started when she was a young child and how it got worse when she moved in after her father passed away, how John used to call it "playing animals", how he would beat her or burn her skin with cigarette butts if she tried to fight back or hide calling her names like whore or slut whilst marking her skin with abuse or using her for his own sick pleasure. Emma was a good listener, she didn't interrupt or ask any questions and was generally easy to talk to, although the look of shock and evident disgust made it clear she was not liking what she was hearing.

"I'm going to make sure that man never see's another room other than a cell ever again I can promise you that" Emma said through gritted teeth before they pulled up outside the station. Although slightly on edge with the sudden aggression Emma seemed to be struggling to hide Casey was starting to like Emma's company.

After they were cleared from medical they made their way to Emma's office, en route an officer intercepted Emma and talked to her in a low voice, Emma nodded as a huge grin plastered her face she thanked him and carried on back to her office practically running to the large wooden door before unlocking it and striding inside, gesturing for Casey to follow her inside. Emma's office was cosy in a messy sort of way there wasn't much furniture apart from the large mahogany desk in the middle which was littered with files and had a large computer on the left side of it, and three leather chairs which were all around the desk one for Emma and two for guests which were on the opposite side to hers.

"Sorry about the mess, I don't usually get many visitors so I don't always feel the need to keep my office tidy but well I thought it would be nicer to talk in here than one of the questioning rooms" Emma explained tidying up her desk which was full of files on what Casey thought were different people until she read the names. Dennis, Barry, Patricia and Hedwig were the first ones she read before Emma put them to one side, before noticing what Casey was staring at.

 

"I thought you might recognise some of the names, I'm trying to read up as much about the different identities in Kevin's body so I have a rough idea on what exactly I'm dealing with" Emma explained, Casey thought that was smart, at least she's doing some research before arresting Kevin. 

 

"What's happening with my Uncle" Casey asked completely changing the subject altogether.

 

"You might want to sit down for this Casey" Emma said gesturing to one of the seats on the opposite side to her before settling in her own.

Casey sat down in the chair that was surprisingly comfortable before waiting for Emma to continue.

 

"Good news on that front looks like your uncle just got a life sentence, he didn't even try to deny it just broke down and told them everything, looks like your finally free Casey" Emma said with a smile on her face as Casey sunk into the chair to digest the recent turn of events.

After so many years of torture, suffering and abuse the news seemed too good to be true, to know she was finally free of it was astonishing. She got up and ran into Emma giving her a tight hug which she seemed surprised about to begin with but gladly returned as Casey started tearing up.

 

"Thank you" she finally managed to say as they broke the hug.

"Don't mention it Casey its what we're here for, besides it's the least I could do for someone who has been through so much" Emma said smiling.

"I just can't believe I'm finally free and it's thanks to you how can I repay you?" Casey asked ecstatic to be given the opportunity to have a fresh start.

"Well now that's where I'm gonna have to be a bit of a killjoy I'm afraid" Emma replied suddenly acting very nervous all of a sudden. It didn't take Casey long to figure out what she wanted.

"You want me to give you information on Kevin's identities don't you?" Casey asked looking down at the floor.

"I wouldn't be asking you if I didn't have a choice, your the only other person who has seen his identities that I've got,look I'll set some ground rules if you like, you can tell me as little or as much as you like, I won't push you and you can take your time I promise" Emma stated.

"sounds good to me" Casey nodded, as Emma sighed in relief.

"Okay first identity on the list is Hedwig what can you tell me about him" Emma said grabbing a file with Hedwig's name on it.

"Nine year old boy, he has a lisp, he's quite sweet really he's just fallen into the wrong crowd however it's very easy to befriend him ooh and he's one of two personalities that I know of that can steal the "light" from the other identities, I assume you know what I mean by that" Casey said raising her eyebrows.

"Yeah, yeah I know what that means" Emma replied

"Hedwig is a member of a group called The Horde, which consists of three identities that I know of, that's Dennis, Hedwig and Patricia and from what I gathered from fleeting meetings with the others, they are not very well liked by the others" Casey explained.

"How so?" Emma asked

"Well from what I gathered from my time spent with them they kind of took control over Kevin's body for the sole purpose of unleashing his twenty fourth identity who is known as The Beast, he's the one behind all of this"

"I see so what can you tell me about the others in the Horde" Emma asked leaning across the desk

"Well Patricia seems to be the leader, she definitely gives off that sort of vibe, she seems sweet but she has definitely got a dark side, she' quite fixated on her beliefs about The Beast, I doubt you'll be able to talk her out of this and Dennis, well he seems to be the henchman of Patricia's plan, he seems to do the jobs Patricia won't or can't do herself"

"Like kidnapping three girls and locking them in a room" Emma deducted 

"Exactly, he's the identity who seems to be in the light more often than not nowadays, a few other things to note about him is that he has OCD and seems to like watching girls dance as that's what he tried to get..." Casey paused as the memories came flooding over her, she took a shaky breath as she grasped the handles on her chair trying to drown them out "he tried to get Marcia to do it" she said in a strained voice. 

Emma noticing her discomfort leaned back from her chair before suggesting they take a break "What you've given me is a good start at least I have some general information about some of the identities I'll probably be dealing with, anymore advice on this twenty fourth Identity, The Beast" she asked him

Casey looked up at her and took a shaky breath before saying "Be as afraid of him as I am, that Beast isn't human, he's an animal, I doubt anyone is a match for him" Casey trembled as she remembered his manic, wild eyes, the veins coming out of his chest and that psychotic grin as metal bars screamed against his strength.

Before Emma could continue her phone started to ring in her pocket, she pulled it out to reveal it was a call from Philadelphia Asylum.

"Excuse me I have to take this" Emma walked outside the room and accepted the call straight away.

"Hello it's Detective Price, what's going on"

"We need back up now we're under attack" said a panicked guard

"From what?" Emma asked the blood draining from her face

"We don't know yet but whatever it is it's killed two of our guards already" 

"Shit okay I'm on my way" Emma opened her office door and grabbed her car keys "I'm going out somewhere there's an emergency will you be okay here until I get back" Emma asked Casey who nodded calmly she watched Emma race towards the door before yelling

"Emma what exactly is going on" 

"Something or someone is attacking an asylum I have to go and help them" she yelled back.

"Okay good luck" Casey called after her as she watched Emma get in the car and drive off.


	12. Meeting The Beast

As soon as Emma had called David ensuring that back up was on its way Emma started jogging towards the direction where she last saw the suspects, this was a bit reckless considering there were other inmates that could have gotten out down there but since she hadn't seen anyone make a bid for freedom she was willing to take the risk. As she got closer to the entrance she could see the true extent of the damage done to the fence, the thick iron bars had been wrenched open so far they were starting to snap off.

"Damn your strong are't you?" Emma said aloud as she stepped through the gap The Beast had created and inspecting the scene on the other side she wanted to find out what she could before back up arrived that could give her any clues on what this Beast was up to.

"Shit" Emma muttered as she saw all the bodies, she ran up to one of them to examine the body and nearly urged when she knelt down to get a better look at him and covered her mouth with her hand.

His left arm was dislocated that much was certain but the most disturbing injury was the gaping hole on the right side of his abdomen where some of his intestines were hanging out some were also littered on the floor a few meters away from them.

"How could one man do all this?" Emma thought aloud again as she got up and scanned all the other bodies scattered around the entrance, she did this sometimes when she was alone at a crime scene it helped her to think and put all the pieces together 

"All dead, but all had guns, all of them fired and he wasn't wearing anything to protect him from the bullets if he was any normal person he'd be dead, we know hes's not but how could anyone survive an attack like this" Emma paced around as all these questions were forming in her mind.

"Ahhhh too many questions, but not enough answers" Emma exclaimed rubbing her hands through her hair breathing heavily she hated not knowing "Okay, okay focus Emma focus on what you know so far" she scolded herself.

"Okay so the twenty fourth identity of Kevin Wendell Crumb has been in hiding since the Philadelphia zoo incident and then decides to break in to an asylum which just so happens to hold Elijah Price, David's "arch enemy", think , think, think what was similar in both these incidents" Emma was turning around trying to pick up on anything she could have missed when it hit her.

"Both of these cases had deaths, murders committed by this Beast, but what else, oh, oh, oh, of course, in both these cases he spared a life, Casey and Price, but why?, there must be something linking them" Emma hypothesised as she was thinking she hadn't heard the entity that had sneaked up behind her.

"I could help with that answer if you want" The Beast replied with a wide psychotic grin "But what would be the fun in that" he mused as he strides towards Emma.

Emma recovering from her shock turned to face the man who had caused so much carnage over the past few weeks and gasped at the mere sight of him, he was just how David described him but it was obviously a lot scarier in person, now she realised why David had passed out after his vision of him, he was the definition of fear and destruction in a mans body. His chest was full of bruises where she suspected the bullets had hit him earlier and his veins were a dark shade of blue underneath the surface of his skin, his eyes were black and seemed to stare right into her soul, he was twice the size of her and seemed to tower over her easily, making Emma take a step back.

"You must be Kevin it's nice to finally meet you" Emma mocked, her sarcasm still functioning despite the danger she was in.

"If you really have been doing your research you would know that I am not Kevin" The Beast growled unimpressed by Emma's less than scared tone.

"No your something else entirely are't you? funny I thought you'd be taller honestly" Emma smirked.

"You have a big mouth despite the danger you appear to be in Detective" The Beast remarked

"Oh I've become accustomed to threats and danger, if your trying to scare me your doing a poor job" Emma retorted again "So why are you here, you could be miles away from here right now and yet here you are, why?"

"I'm here to give you a friendly warning Detective Price, you've seen what I can do now and despite your sarcastic attitude I know you must fear me, I'll forgive you for your sarcasm, I'll even forgive you for the curfew you put in place to begin with" 

"Aww struggling to catch anymore innocent girls to eat huh" Emma interrupted her voice filled with false sympathy.

"You have made it harder for us to catch more impures granted, but I have a much more important goal to achieve so I'm going to tell you once, stay out of our way" The Beast threatened locking his void-less eyes onto Emma's cold stare.

"ha ha like I've already said Beasty threats don't work on me anymore, too many people have done that in the past so forgive me if I'm not impressed with that warning" Emma remarked.

As soon as she said that The Beast had lunged forward and grabbed her by the throat before pinning her to the wall.

"You are an insufferable girl aren't you" The Beast whispered as Emma struggled to get enough oxygen in her lungs as his hand started tightening around her throat.

She was about to black out when all of a sudden his hands went slack and were removed from her throat altogether, leaving her to fall to the ground gulping in the much needed air that was entering her lungs.

"What are you doing Dennis?" The Beast nearly roared.

"We need to leave now, the police will be here soon I don't doubt we need to ge out of here now while we still can" as Dennis said this the sound of a distant siren started to sound. The Beast sighed before turning over to Emma and meeting her stare.

"Consider this your first and final warning Detective the next time we see each other you won't be so lucky, farewell detective" The Beast said before scaling the wall and disappearing out of sight leaving Emma kneeling on the floor struggling to breath.


	13. Partnership

After his meeting with that more than irritating Detective, The Beast sprinted back towards the car where Elijah Price was waiting in the front passenger seat. He skidded to a halt outside the door to the drivers seat and allowed Dennis to take the light so that he could drive.

Dennis quickly changed back into his black shirt and tried to ignore the blood which covered his hands and chest, although the thought of it on his skin made him shudder and it took all of his willpower not to start freaking out. He took a deep breath and slid his glasses on before getting into the drivers seat and starting the car. he backed up onto the road and drove as fast as he could to gain some distance between them and the cops.

Elijah Price who had been sitting silently in his seat for most of the journey stared at his mysterious Savior with a poker face to avoid giving away any emotions.

"Where were you when you disappeared earlier?" he asked curiously.

"We went back to the asylum there was someone there that we were curious about meeting" Dennis replied keeping his eyes fixed on the road ahead and occasionally looking back to check for cops.

"Who was it?" Elijah asked 

"A detective named Emma Price ,she seems to be the main person investigating our case at the moment" 

"And why the hell did you think it would be a good idea to go and see her?" Elijah nearly yelled not understanding why he had wasted valuable time talking to a detective which could have been better used to escape.

"The Beast wanted to see if she was a threat to us and to give her a warning if she got in our way" Dennis answered his knuckles turning white as his grip tightened on the wheel.

"Huh and how did that work out for you?" 

"Oh I think she got the message" Dennis replied with a small frown as he recalled what had nearly happened during that meeting.

"Wow if you can convince her to stay away you must be good, Emma is about as stubborn as they get" Elijah said impressed.

"You know her?" 

"Oh yeah I know her we have what you would call a.... complicated history" Elijah said cryptically looking out of the window.

They drove for a few more miles in silence until Elijah turned to face Dennis again

"Not that I'm not grateful or anything but why did you free me from that hellhole, I mean out of all the people who were being held in there you chose me, why?"

"Your like us, your pure" 

"Pure?, what the hell do you mean by that?"

"It means you've suffered, that you know pain, it makes you stronger"

"What makes you think I've suffered?" Elijah asked

"We did our research my dear, we know about your condition, how you were bullied because of it at school, twenty four different operations, I must admit that's impressive even by our standards, but it doesn't make you weak, you are much stronger than those who don't know suffering that is what makes you pure" Dennis's voice changed from his usual gruff tone to the soft British voice belonging to Patricia.

"How does this involve me then, what is your plan" Elijah asked slightly shocked about the sudden change of voice 

"We are trying to show the world how powerful we can be, the zoo, the asylum is only a glimpse of what The Beast can do and we believe that you can help us" Patricia explained.

"Help you how?" Elijah was starting to get frustrated on what his part to play was.

"We know what it's like to e shut away and frowned upon dear, you stay with us and help us with our vision and The Beast has personally promised that you will have revenge on the one man who is responsible for your imprisonment" 

"You know about David Dunn?" 

"Of course we do dear, we've heard he's been called the unbreakable man, that he can't be harmed, The Beast is very eager to get rid of him first for obvious reasons" Patricia purred before parking outside a rundown apartment. 

Once they were out of the car Patricia opened the door and led Elijah up the stairs and into the living room.

"Sit down and think about your decision, we will be in the bathroom if you need us, you must be exhausted as well you can take the spare room if you like call when your ready to make a decision" Patricia offered before stepping into the bathroom and locking the door.


	14. Hello Again

Casey was walking back to her Uncles house still on the phone to David who was keeping her updated on Emma who was still checked into the hospital after her disastrous encounter with The Beast at the asylum the other night.

"She'll be okay, her injuries don't seem to be too bad and will heal in no time, I think her pride is the most wounded thing at the moment considering how we found her face first on a puddle of mud, I think some officers took pictures as well she'll be pleased to hear" David chuckled.

Casey couldn't help but smirk a little bit at that

"Has she woken up yet?" Casey asked hopeful that she might have the possibility to talk to her considering she wasn't allowed to stay at the hospital with her because of how busy it was with the press and everything, David thought it would be best for Casey to keep at low profile until things had settled down again.

"She has but no ones allowed to see her, doctors orders, she needs rest for now but you'll be the first to know when she's allowed visitors, I get the feeling you two will have a lot to talk about now" Casey hummed in response, she thought so to.

Casey heard someone calling David's name over the phone and heard him sigh down the phone before telling whoever it was that he would be on his way.

"Looks like I'm needed in there again, are you sure you'll be alright on your own again?" David asked concern lacing his voice.

Casey's smiled at the thought of how much him and Emma seemed to genuinely care about her, it was something she hadn't had in a long, long time and it was still a complete shock to her that it would come at such an unexpected time.

"I'll be fine David, I brought something to eat on the way home and it's not like I'm miles away from the hospital really, if I need something I'll let you know" Casey reassured him that she would call him if she needed anything before saying goodbye and putting the phone down and smiling to herself as she continued her way home.

During the last bit of her walk Casey reflected on how crazy her week had been so far, not so long ago she would have dreaded the walk home because it would mean she would be one step closer to her abusive uncle and the pain that she had become so accustomed to over the years, now she felt giddy with excitement knowing that she would never have to experience that ever again and that was because of one person, Emma price.

Casey had never had anyone stick up for her the way Emma had that day as she remembered how she grabbed his paw like hands and flipped him onto the now destroyed coffee table after he had hit her, that was the first time her uncle had ever been abusive in front of another person and she was sure he probably regretted that decision knowing where he was now. It was funny in a way how she thought she had always had to deal with a beast even before her kidnapping.

As Casey climbed up the steps to the porch she thought she heard someone moving behind her, she turned around to look but saw nothing, she shrugged it off deciding it was just her paranoia getting the better of her until she heard shuffling behind her again and turned around to look again just in time as she saw a familiar person wearing black ironed trousers and a matching shirt disappear down an alleyway on the opposite side of the road.

"Is he following me?" Casey wondered as she watched the alleyway again for any sign that he might come back, Casey reached for the door to the porch and opened it fully before slamming it as hard as she could before ducking behind the white fencing that surrounded the porch and peering through one of the small gaps that was between two of the slats.

She nearly gasped as she saw the familiar figure of Dennis walking out of the alleyway and staring in the direction of her house before crossing the road and standing just outside of it. His head turns towards the fence and his stern expression zeroes in on her hiding spot.

"You can stop hiding I know your there" Dennis called out in his low Bostonian accent as he waited expectantly for Casey to appear from the her hiding place.

"Why are you here Dennis are you following me is that what your doing?" Casey asked in a harsh tone.

"We.... I just wanted to see you again" Dennis mumbled

"Seriously and what makes you think I would want to see you again, after everything you put me through, your lucky I'm not calling the police right now" Casey exclaimed

"No, no don't do that, please, the others don't even know i'm here and I'd really like to keep it that way please" Dennis begged locking his ice blue eyes onto hers.

"Why are you here Dennis?" Casey huffed

"I wanted to apologize for everything that we... that I put you through, it was wrong I know that now and I'll understand if you hated me for itif I had known you were pure I would never have put you through any of that please you gotta believe me"" Dennis said looking ashamed as he gazed down at the floor, breathing heavily trying to control the sudden rush of emotions that threatened to take over.

"I'm surprised you had time to fit me in around your busy schedule, what are you planning next I wonder maybe a massive heist that will certainly bring you more celebrity status" Casey scoffed knowing full well how much of a low blow that was but it felt good to finally direct some of the anger that had been built up since she was rescued at the person responsible for all of this.

"I had no say in any of that, the asylum, attacking the detective, that was all The Beast"

"I know but you helped him so technically those crimes, those deaths are all on you to"

"I tried to stop him I really did" Dennis tried to explain

"Hmm somehow I really doubt that, now if you'll excuse me it's getting late and the curfew will be starting at any moment, goodbye Dennis, good luck with whatever it is you want to achieve with this" Casey turned to walk away towards the door when Dennis spoke again

"I saved her life you know" Casey paused a few steps away from the door before turning to face him again, his eyes tearing up as he said "That night at the asylum... that detective, The Beast was gonna kill her I could see right through his plan I,I wanted to do something so I convinced Hedwig to give me the light... just long enough for me to let go of her, as she fell The Beast... he was furious, so I lied saying that the cops were on their way, when we got home, he called me pathetic, threatened me... he said if I tried anything like that again he would make sure I never got the light again... he said he would make me sleep like Kevin... the only difference, he said, the only difference between me and Kevin is that no one would miss me" his voice broke as he heaved in massive great big sobs, leaning on the fence unable to carry on with the story.

Casey tried not to feel sorry for him but it was hard not to after his story and how much he seemed to effected by it. Casey almost couldn't believe this was the same guy who had kidnapped him all those weeks ago. Dennis back then was stoic, stern and emotionless. Now he was the complete opposite, he seemed to carry the weight of every decision he had made on his shoulders, he seemed vulnerable and another thing Casey wouldn't have believed him to be able to feel but Dennis looked scared, like a rabbit caught in headlights where any move he made could be his last.

Once he had somewhat recovered enough to stand up again an idea came to her head.

"Why don't you come inside with me, we can talk more about what's bothering you"

Dennis hesitated probably considering if it was some sort of trick, before shaking is head and saying "I shouldn't, I mean we should be heading home anyway" Dennis mumbled.

"Just for a few minutes Dennis it doesn't have to be for long" Casey persuaded

"You seriously trust me enough to invite me into a house by yourself you must be crazy" 

"Trust me after the week I've had so far inviting you into my house is probably the most normal thing that's happened" Casey remarked, making Dennis smile a little bit, his usual stern expression was replaced with a more relaxed one which Casey thought made him look cute, she shook that thought out of her head before leading him inside the house and shutting the door.


	15. Demons

When they got inside Casey offered Dennis a seat on the black leather sofa before heading to the kitchen to get some water for both of them. Once she finished filling up the glasses she leaned on the counter, the more rational part of her head was repeating one question over and over which was, what was she thinking?, she had just invited the very person who kidnapped her, attempted to kill Emma and had killed several others into her home when she was alone, he could do anything right now and she would be powerless to stop him.

However for some reason seeing Dennis in the state he was in outside earlier Casey was beginning to see him in a different light, maybe he wasn't as devoid of emotions as she had first thought and maybe there was a spark of humanity left inside him after all, whatever it was Casey was curious as to what might have caused this sudden change in character for Dennis.

Casey sighed grabbing the glasses of water and making her way back to the living room, where she saw Dennis cleaning the sofa with his yellow handkerchief, before folding it neatly and shoving it back into his pocket and finally sitting down still looking uncomfortable being in the same place as her .

"Hey I brought you some water, thought you might be thirsty" Casey said before setting the glasses down on the new coffee table Emma had brought to replace the one she had smashed.

Dennis nodded "Thank you" he said gratefully accepting his glass and taking a long sip before setting it back down on the table neatly. Casey joined him sitting on the opposite side of the sofa and facing his general direction, she let the silence continue for a few more minutes before she asked.

"What happened to you Dennis?"

Dennis shifted in his seat nervously before sighing "I don't know how to answer that" he muttered.

"I meant why did you choose to save Emma's life?" Casey explained

"Honestly I don't know, I just wanted to help somehow" Dennis mumbled

Casey could see him becoming uncomfortable with the conversation so decided to change tactics.

"Do you want to ask me something, that way we can both learn more about each other" Casey asked deciding that maybe the best way to get Dennis to open up might be to get rid of some of the pressure and let him ask things about herself as she was sure he had plenty of things he wanted to ask her as well.

Dennis nodded slowly before turning to face her, his eyes drifted to her abdomen before snapping back to her face, he took a deep breath before almost whispering

"Your pure you have scars..." he paused and Casey nodded encouraging him to continue "Who did that to you?" he asked.

"My Uncle" Casey managed to say "He's in jail been over a week now"

Dennis nodded "Who did you tell in the end?" he asked

"Emma, she sort of found out, she came over to question me about some things, my uncle didn't like that very much" 

"He hit you in front of her?" Dennis asked shocked

Casey nodded "It all worked out in the end though I suppose, he has a life sentence now and I doubt anyone will let him near me after everything he's done, not that I'd want to see him either"

"He made you stronger Casey, he was a beast in his own right and he was your demon to slay" Dennis replied looking down as he said it.

"And what about you Dennis, have you slayed your demons?" Casey asked inquisitively

Dennis smiled and let out a hollow laugh "I fear I may have helped them more than anything right now" he replied in a broken voice, tears threatening to spill from his eyes again.

"What are you going to do now?" Casey asked

"Honestly I have no idea, Patricia and The Beast both have the upper hand and I'm not strong enough to take on The Beast by myself, Hedwig won't talk to me now he's afraid The Beast will hurt him"

"What about your new friend Mr Glass?" Casey wondered

"He's on their side, they promised him something he couldn't refuse but I don't know what, they mostly keep me in the dark now unless they need me to do the jobs that they can't" Dennis replied.

He looked so broken, like the fight had completely left him. If Casey didn't know any better she would have thought that Dennis had given the light to Kevin because despite the fact that he was still dressed like Dennis she had only seen that exact look on the original identity of this body when he asked Casey to kill him and the similarities made her feel sad and slightly scared at what Dennis might do next.

"Dennis When did you first appear in the light?" Casey asked Dennis looked a bit confused at the question before Casey elaborated "Hedwig told me you all sit in a room of chairs and that Barry used to decide who got the light, I'm just curious as to when you first appeared"

Dennis looked lost in thought for a moment before he spoke "Kevin was just a kid when we first met, his mother wasn't the best parental figure in the world, she liked her drink but it made her angry, really angry, the more she drank the worse it got especially when his dad left them that's when she became completely unstable... and that's also when we first met, I protected Kevin from the worst of her attacks.... I found out she liked things neat and orderly, it was one of the best ways to avoid her attention so I made sure that everything was clean that is was perfect"

"Were there any others before you?" Casey asked

"I was the first one and for a long time I was all he had" Dennis sighed.

"So you and Kevin went through a lot together what happened?" 

"I wasn't enough, I mean sure I was strong, I could protect him from people who tried to pick on him but that was it, that's when the others started forming to fill in the blanks, after Barry formed he kinda became the de facto leader, he was the best with people and probably the best at functioning in a normal society after that there wasn't really any need for me anymore so I kinda got pushed aside a bit more" Dennis explained

"What do you think Kevin would say if he found out about what you were doing?" 

"Please don't make me answer that, I know he would be devastated if he ever found out, he doesn't cope well in reality he never has... I think if he ever found out it would crush him" Dennis whispered before taking off his glasses and wiping the tears away from his eyes as quick as he could before they started falling.

"I'm not even sure you can handle the reality your living in anymore Dennis" Casey remarked watching him struggle to contain the grief that was clearly written all over his face.

"I just want to keep everybody safe" Dennis sighed "I just don't know how anymore, the one thing I'm supposed to do is protect and I can't even do that anymore, The Beast is right no one would miss me" 

"No" Casey shouted before she moved closer to him and reached out and grabbed his shoulders forcing him to face her he was a bit shocked by the action but too defeated by his own words to flinch or back away "Dennis listen to me you are stronger than you think, you can't afford to give up now, if you do you'll be stuck in this cycle forever, Kevin needs you now more than ever" 

Dennis shook his head "I can't protect him from this... The Beast is one demon I cannot get rid of no matter how hard I try" 

"I used to think like that about my Uncle, Dennis trust me when I say we all have our demons and we're responsible for what happens when we let them out, please just try to slay this one not just for Kevin but for yourself too" Casey begged locking eyes with him.

"I'll try" he whispered before hunching over and groaning like he was in pain.

Casey jumped back unsure of what was going on but starting to come up with a few ideas

"Ahhhh no no please let me keep the light please" Dennis started screaming before falling onto the floor "Casey, Casey where are you? Ahhhhh" Dennis called.

"I'm here Dennis I'm here, what is it?" she said in a soothing tone kneeling beside him.

"It's The Beast he's trying to take over....I only have a few minutes before I lose the light"

"What do I do?" she asked in a slightly worried tone.

"I need you....to run.... I'll try to buy you some time, he hasn't seen you yet but you need to go now" Dennis yelled through gritted teeth.

"Will we ever see each other again?" Casey asked

"I really hope so Casey.....ahhh now go please" he begged his nails digging into the wooden floorboards.

Casey got up and ran out the door and away from the house as fast as she could, she never looked back once, images of Dennis's pained expression as he thought for control over the light flooded through her mind and a small tear made it's way down her face.


	16. Rescue

Dennis was still fighting for control even after he had watched Casey leave, he tried to get up so he could get out of the house, he stumbled quite a few times and had to lean on the wall for support but managed to get out of the house in the end. He was just coming down the steps on the porch when he collapsed on the floor again his whole body shaking with the effort of keeping The Beast at bay.

He was just about to give up when he heard someone calling his name, Casey, she sounded terrified, like she was in trouble. Dennis felt a surge of protectiveness which helped him to gain control over everyone as he sprang back up and turned in the direction of where he heard her cries for help, it was down the alleyway he had hidden in when she thought she was being followed, he heard her scream and he lost all regard to his own safety as he raced towards the sound of her screaming.

The Beast was growing impatient and Dennis could sense that

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING DENNIS?" he roared, furious it made Dennis wince but he had to explain to him quickly what was happening.

"Casey is in trouble we have to help her, please help me save her" Dennis pleaded with The Beast.

The Beast seemed to be considering what to say for a moment before replying "ALRIGHT BUT YOU BETTER HAVE A PRETTY GOOD EXPLANATION FOR ALL OF THIS LATER ON FOR YOUR SAKE DENNIS" he warned.

Dennis sighed before turning a corner and seeing Casey being cornered by two thugs dressed in matching black hoodies and grey ripped jeans, both of them towered over her nearly blocking his view of her, one was holding a knife and was pointing it towards her whilst the other started backing her up against the wall behind her.

"You know there's a curfew on right about now, to protect pretty girls like you" the thug with a knife said before advancing towards Casey as well.

Dennis knew he had to act now so he started marching towards the two thugs before shouting out 

"Hey" the two thugs turned around to face him "shouldn't you be inside to I mean there is a curfew on to protect weak little pricks like you" Dennis taunted

"Well well well, looks like we got ourselves a hero" the thug with the knife sneered "turn around pal there's nothin to see here why don't you jus head on home huh?" he waved his knife towards the corner Dennis had just come from before turning around and walking back towards Casey.

Dennis grabbed the guy by the shirt and pulled him back to face him "You touch her you'll have to deal with me" Dennis growled.

The thug laughed before plunging the knife into Dennis's abdomen causing him to drop him before he clamped his hand down on the wound, falling to his knees as he saw the red start to spread on his grey shirt.

"Is that it, wow you talk tough for a guy who just got taken out by a knife" the thug smirked before kicking him in the ribs making Dennis groan in pain, before turning to Casey with a malicious grin and saying "Now where were we?" as he started pressing his whole weight onto Casey and grabbing her wrists and pinning them above her head essentially trapping her.

Casey started to hyperventilate as she started to flashback to the times when her uncle used to do this to her, she peered over to where Dennis had been and noticed to her astonishment that he wasn't there, before she had time to contemplate on this her attention was brought back to the thug who had leaned in closer and was trying to kiss her.

"No please" she whimpered as she tried to struggle out of her captors vice like grip before he dug his nails into her wrists shushing her

"Don't worry it'll be over soon" he whispered which made Casey shiver with fear as she remembered that was exactly what her Uncle would say to her as well. Knowing there was no way out of this she closed her eyes and waited for it to be over with.

That was when she heard the deep, steady panting of The Beast she opened her eyes long enough to see his dark silhouette before the thug who had her pinned to the wall was violently pulled off of her and pinned to the wall next to her. 

"Wh...how are you still alive I stabbed you" the thug trembled as he looked down at where he had stuck the knife in him.

"You think a puny weapon such as that can stop me, you are gravely mistaken you filthy impure" The Beast bellowed before reaching out and snapping his neck in one swift movement letting his lifeless body drop to the floor. Before turning towards the other one who took one look t his friend and took off down the alley,The Beast in hot pursuit, it only took him a few bounds before he caught up with him and grabbed him from behind and crushing his rib cage.

"There you go Dennis she's safe now" The Beast announced walking back towards Casey.

"Thank you" Dennis sighed a breath of relief

"Don't thank me too quickly you still owe me an explanation as to what it is you were doing here in the first place" The Beast reminded him sensing Dennis's discomfort he added "But I'll let it slide for now" before giving the light back to Dennis.

Dennis blinked a few times reaching for his glasses and putting them on before sprinting over to where Casey was curled up in a ball, eyes closed and crying uncontrollably.

"Casey" Dennis whispered reaching out to comfort her until Casey flinched away from him lashing out and scratching his wrist with her nails leaving a nasty looking cut on his arm "Casey it's okay your safe now it's me, it's Dennis" he reassured her until she realized it was him and started to relax falling into his arms and weeping clinging to his torn and bloody shirt as a way to ground herself from the horror she had just endured.

Dennis held her shushing her and rubbing her back in a comforting gesture until she was ready to pull away, then they just sat there in silence for awhile longer.

"Thank you for saving me" Casey said giving him a weak smile

"Your welcome" Dennis smiled back "You should probably get back home, I mean there is a curfew for a reason" he smirked making Casey roll her eyes as they both started to get up, Dennis groaned clutching his knife wound and breathing heavily before standing up fully.

Casey examined the wound, it was quite a deep cut and the blood had spread quite a long way on his shirt, Dennis for the most part was trying not to look at it since his OCD would probably go into overdrive if he did he was taking deep breaths and was starting to lean on the wall for support.

"Why don't you come back to the house and I'll clean that up for you huh?" Casey suggested

"No, no I'm fine" Dennis rasped

"Dennis look at yourself, your not fine and besides my house is closer and it is my fault you got that" Casey said looking down.

"Don't ever say that it's not your fault, I antagonised him it's my fault not yours" Dennis said sternly before trying to walk and groaning loudly before stumbling again, Casey caught him in time and helped him regain his composure.

"You sure you don't need help?" Casey asked questioningly a smirk emerging on her.

"Maybe I could do with some assistance" Dennis agreed, he hated looking weak in front of people and really wasn't great at letting people help him even if he needed it, he had grown so used to dealing with problems by himself he didn't like shoving his problems onto other people he didn't want to burden anyone more than he had to, but this time it didn't seem like he had much of a choice.

He grudgingly let Casey support him since he could barely walk without falling, together they managed to make it back to her house in one piece.

"Huh this feels like de ja vu" Casey remarked looking at Dennis who smiled weakly at her joke before settling him down on the sofa and going into the kitchen to grab some supplies for his injury.


	17. Growing closer

Casey came back with a bowl of water a cloth and a first aid kit and set them down on the table, she moved closer to Dennis to get a better view of the wound.

"I'm going to have to clean the wound Dennis would you mind taking your shirt off so I could get a better look at it" Casey asked in a calm reassuring tone

Dennis studied her for a moment before nodding and slowly unbuttoning his shirt before peeling it off and handing it to her. Casey rushed out to the kitchen and chucked the shirt straight in the wash before coming back and picking up the damp cloth.

"I'm going to start cleaning it now it may sting a little because of the antiseptic, just try not to move okay" Casey instructed as she started wiping the blood that had spread across his chest and his abdomen. She wasn't at all surprised to find that his upper body was firm and covered entirely with muscle, She knew Dennis was strong even after their first encounter, having said that though there was something about seeing it laid out right in front of her that she somehow felt entranced by it all. 

The more blood Casey wiped off, the more remnants of his previous torture were revealed to her, scars were present all over his body some small , some big all had a history, Casey felt a small tear make its way down her face, which Dennis reached over and wiped away, making her stop what she was doing to look at him with sorrowful eyes.

"How could she do this to you?" she whispered, Dennis shared the same look which Casey wore, cupping her face with his hand locking his eyes on hers.

"We all have our demons and we're responsible for what happens when we let them out" Dennis reminded her, Casey nodded before continuing with cleaning the wound.

Dennis tried not to show any pain but when Casey started cleaning the actual wound itself he couldn't help the hiss that escaped , his muscles twitching involuntarily when the antiseptic started to sting. Once Casey was finished cleaning the wound Dennis could bring himself to look at it properly for the first time, it looked much better now that the bleeding had stopped and it had been cleaned out, it actually felt worse than what it looked.

Casey placed the cloth in the bowl and took the bandage out of the packaging, it was quite big and would quite easily cover the whole wound. She pressed it down onto Dennis's strong, firm abdomen, before wrapping it around his torso with his help and tying it up in a tight but neat knot. Casey went to stand up and took all the equipment back into the kitchen with her, disposing of the bloody cloth and thoroughly cleaning the bowl she had used before placing it all back into the first aid cupboard.

Once she came back into the sitting room she slumped on the sofa next to Dennis, and they sat together in a comfortable silence. 

"Thank you for the help Casey I really appreciate it" Dennis said breaking the silence.

"That's okay, I mean it was the least I could do since, you know you saved my life and all" Casey replied guiltily. 

"Your not still blaming yourself are you?" Dennis asked his stern expression returning again, Casey nodded looking down on the floor and Dennis sighed "Look I already told you it was my fault alright, just let me take the blame for this" he answered softly, shifting slightly on the sofa moving closer to her.

"You wouldn't have that injury at all if it weren't for me" Casey argued, tears forming in her eyes as she looked at him.

"And whose clever idea was it to tell you to run outside anyway, if I hadn't suggested that then you wouldn't have ran into those two thugs, this one is on me" Dennis answered before taking his glasses off and pinching the bridge of his nose "It's funny no matter what I do, I'm always getting people hurt or in harms way"

"Don't say that, you couldn't have known that they would have been out there, at least don't blame yourself for that" Casey replied, warm brown eyes pleading with him to not add to the guilt he was already feeling as she hesitantly reached out to touch him.

Dennis leaned into the touch needing some form of comfort to pull him out of his dark thoughts, Casey's fingers rubbed an imprint of a scar on his left shoulder and her hand tensed, Dennis turned to look at her and realised why she had suddenly tensed up.

"I'm so sorry this happened to you" Casey's voice cracked an Dennis held her again as her tears started making their way down her cheeks.

"It's okay you don't have to be, it happened a long time ago, to be honest I completely forgot about that one" Dennis joked as he comforted Casey, Casey huffed out a laugh as she looked up at Dennis.

"Do you?" she asked

"Do I what?" he responded raising his eyebrows

"Forget about your scars" she finished

"Never, there was a time I thought I could but...I don't know it didn't seem to matter in the end, I mean their apart of me whether I like it or not so I decided I'd just settle for getting used to them being there" he shrugged, Casey nodded in response "What about you?" he asked her.

"I've never known how to deal with them to be honest, they're too fresh, the memories I mean" Casey exhaled.

Dennis understood exactly what she was talking about, some memories from his past were too fresh for him they seemed like they happened yesterday instead of in his childhood.

"Casey I want to tell you that.... I think your incredibly brave to have been able to go through all of this by yourself, most other people wouldn't be able to go through what you've been through and still come out of this as strong as you have" Dennis said sincerely, meaning every word.

"Thank you Dennis that means a lot... I think your brave too you know" Casey said smiling up at him.

"Sometimes I don't think that's true" Dennis frowned.

"Stop doubting yourself, you are stronger than you give yourself credit for, I mean who else would willingly take a beating to protect their best friend, who would save a detectives life even if it meant never being in the light again and who would save my life even if it meant putting them-self in harms way, you are brave Dennis" Casey argued gripping his shoulders, they were so close now that Dennis could feel the heat that was radiating from her body.

"When will you stop being nice to me I don't deserve it after everything I've done" Dennis scoffed.

"When you stop bringing yourself down, maybe then I'll stop" Casey grinned

Dennis laughed then for the first time in what felt like years. It was a deep strong bellow which Casey found contagious and endearing. 

"I love you, your a massive pain in the ass but I love you" Dennis said without realising. Casey leaned back looking a little shocked and Dennis felt himself blush as the realisation of what he just said hit him like a ton of bricks. "I uh sorry I don't know what came over me" he cleared his throat nervously " I should probably go" he said when Casey didn't answer.

Dennis started getting ready to get up when Casey asked

"Wait Dennis, do you really mean that?" 

Dennis sighed "Yeah I do but I understand if you don't feel the same way... I wouldn't either after everything you've been through" he avoided her eyes, debating whether to get up or not.

"Your right after everything I've been through I shouldn't feel the way I do about you now..." Casey trailed off as Dennis's eyes shot straight up, filled with a glimmer of hope that he hadn't imagined what he had just heard and asking a silent question which Casey answered with a slight nod of her head.

Dennis laughed breathlessly and leaned in slowly giving Casey ample opportunity to back out if she wanted to, but to his surprise she wrapped her arms around his neck and sealed the kiss.


	18. Finding passion

Dennis pulled away, breathing heavily and leaning his forehead against Casey's, he wanted this he really did but apart of him knew it was wrong, he couldn't help but be reminded of the names Patricia and the others had called him because of his filthy obsessions.

"Hey what's wrong?" Casey asked concerned cupping his cheek and looking at him.

"I...I just don't want to hurt you" Dennis answered his voice filled with shame "I'm not in control of myself in situations like this... I just don't want you getting hurt" he looked at Casey expecting to see disgust or hatred but all he saw in those warm brown eyes was trust and comfort.

"Believe me I am just as scared about this as you are... but I trust you Dennis, I know you won't hurt me" She assured him but he still didn't look entirely convinced.

"If it gets too much will you tell me?" Dennis pleaded, Casey kissed his forehead and nodded before saying

"I promise I'll let you know, I love you too Dennis" Casey said breathlessly.

Now it was his turn to look shocked, all his life he had been frowned upon for who he was by the others or feared by people who came into contact with him, and then Casey comes along and shows him the compassion that he has never had and accepted him for who he was and the feelings he had for her right now were just so overwhelming they made him feel giddy. This time he didn't hold back, his lips crashed into Casey's as he started kissing her passionately as he pulled her as close as he could with one hand making her straddle him, as the other tangled itself into her hair deepening the kiss. Casey's arms wrapped themselves around his torso as her hands started to explore the expanse of his back, feeling the imprints of scars and memorising them like a map, she moans a little bit as she feels his calloused, warm hands travel under her shirt and up her back she leans back and lifts her shirt up, taking it off in seconds before bringing her lips back to his as he unclasped her bra and slowly removed it as well.

Dennis's mouth started to wonder then, starting at her neck and working it's way down her body, kissing every patch of bare skin he could reach, Casey starts leaning back pulling him with her until she's lying on the sofa with Dennis staring down at her with a lustful hunger in his eyes. he worshipped her body He reaches for her breast and starts playing with it as his mouth started kissing the scars that are abundant on her abdomen admiring each one as if they were works of art as opposed to signs of her uncles twisted abuse, before coming back up and sucking on her nipple, which resulted in a moan escaping from Casey as she started unbuckling his belt and slowly unbuttoned his trousers, he lifted himself off of her so he could slip them off before unbuttoning Casey's jeans and watching her hungrily as she took them off as well before kissing her again and again each one becoming a bit less controlled than the last They were both lying on the sofa, clothes lying on the floor, completely lost in this blissful moment together.

"Your so beautiful" Dennis whispered as he looked down at Casey, all of a sudden he became quite nervous about the thought of what they were about to do, still having doubts that she would even want this, or him for that matter "Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked concern written on his face, Casey smiled up at him before nodding and stroking his cheek reassuringly and reaching up to kiss him again.

"I want this Dennis, I want you" Casey almost begged making him smile down at her.

Dennis didn't need to be told twice he positioned himself on top of her to get a better angle before sliding his cock into her slowly getting used to being inside her, keeping eye contact with Casey the whole time looking for any sign of discomfort but couldn't see any. He closed his eyes getting lost in the moment before thrusting slowly still being cautious not to hurt her.

"Uhh Dennis" Casey moaned as he hit her spot "I need more" she ordered and Dennis obliged speeding up and thrusting deeper into her encouraging more moans to erupt from her mouth.

"Fuck Casey your so beautiful" Dennis whispered as he nipped at the skin on her neck his hand travelling down to rub her clit turning her on even more.

"Uh faster Dennis please" Casey said as she ran her fingers up his back making his muscles twitch wherever they went.

He sped up going faster and deeper building her up to a climax which she couldn't contain. Casey groaned loudly as she came, sending Dennis over the edge shortly after, letting out an almost primal growl before cumming inside of her.

After both of their climax's hit they both collapsed, holding each other like they were the only anchor they had to ground the other, breathing heavily Dennis pulled out of her before kissing her, taking in what they had just done and resting his forehead on hers before looking into her eyes.

"Are you okay?" he asked still panting a little bit

"Yeah I'm fine, in fact I haven't felt this good in a very long time" She breathed smiling up at him and stroking the back of his head feeling the prickly spikes of his buzz cut hair. Dennis nodded before asking

"If you had any doubts, any doubts at all about what I was doing you would tell me right?" Dennis asked the fear coming back into his eyes a little bit.

"I promise Dennis I'll tell you" She reassured him again, before he nodded and said

"Okay good" sighing deeply feeling exhausted after what they had just done and sitting up on the sofa so that Casey would have more space as well, she didn't waste anytime moving towards him and settling her head on his strong chest listening to his beating heart.

They stayed in a comfortable silence as they held each other closer until they both drifted off to sleep.


	19. Separated

Casey woke up naturally after having a peaceful nights sleep for the first time since, probably, her fathers funeral, not one nightmare had woken her up making her scream and tremble in the aftermath, which was strange but definitely a good strange, Casey felt more refreshed than she had in ages and the reason behind it was because of the man who was slouched on the sofa in the same position he was in before she dozed off, his arms wrapped around her tightly even in his sleep, his chest was rising and falling steadily with each breath he took and his warmth embraced Casey in a protective warmth which helped make her feel safe, he looked so at ease unlike what he was like when he was awake. 

Casey started drawing patterns across his body and kissed his chest directly above where his heart was, looking up at him in total adoration as she remembered what they had done last night.

Last night had been a huge revelation for Casey, after having so many bad memories thanks to her uncle, she never imagined or let herself believe that she could ever be in a relationship especially one where she would want to be intimate with someone. Yet as she looked over at Dennis sleeping soundly next to her, it didn't seem as far fetched as she thought. Casey smiled to herself when she remembered the looks of concern he gave her, him asking if she was alright and the way he made sure that Casey was fine with what he was doing before he did anything was all endearing to her, the sex was good too obviously, it was the first time she had enjoyed being intimate with anyone and it felt good to have sex she actually enjoyed rather than being forced to have and it helped her to find out more about Dennis's personality. 

He had obviously been the more dominant out of the two of them last night but he always seemed to be holding back even before last night he seemed to always doubt what he was saying and double back if he thought he'd done or said something wrong. His confidence and self esteem seemed to have been taken away from him and left him scared of doing or saying anything in case he did something wrong. If Casey had to bet who had done this to him she would probably have put it down to his mother or Patricia and the others but mostly Patricia as she seemed to scold him more than the others, granted she hadn't really met the others personally but it definitely seemed like the type of thing Patricia would do to keep Dennis in line.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a buzzing that was coming from her phone which was in her pocket. She turned to reach it and saw that it was David who was calling her she took a deep breath hoping for good news as she pressed the answer button.

"Hello" Casey said 

"Hi Casey, just letting you know the doctors gave Emma the all clear their letting people into visit her, I thought you'd like the chance to see her since you haven't already" David's voice explained. 

"Yeah I would love to see her, thanks David, how is she?" Casey asked eager to know how well she had recovered.

"Yeah she's fine, she's been doing a lot better then everyone thought she would be but then again she is tough and if her stubbornness is anything to go by I think she'll be okay" David reassured her 

"Well that's good to hear" Casey breathed 

"Yes it is, how are you anyway?" David asked

"Yeah I'm good, much better now actually" Casey replied with a smile on her face as she turned to look at Dennis who was still sound asleep.

"I thought you sounded happier, that's really good to hear Casey after all you of all people deserve to be happy" 

"Thanks David, what time should I come up?" Casey asked

"Whenever your ready Casey, Emma's very keen to be able to speak to you though so you might not want to keep her waiting too long" David chuckled

"Alright I'll be up there as soon as possible" Casey responded with her own chuckle

"Okay then see you there" 

"Yeah okay, bye David" Casey said before hanging up the phone and turning back to Dennis who was staring at her through heavy eyes.

"Hi sleepy head" Casey teased as she grinned at him

"Hi" Dennis replied with a yawn and grinning back up at her before drawing her into a kiss which she gladly returned "Who was that on the phone?" he asked when they broke away.

"David, he said I can go and see Emma today" Casey told him. Dennis nodded still looking guilty when she mentioned Emma "Hey what happened that night wasn't your fault" Casey comforted him.

"But does she know that" Dennis asked bitterly "People have never really understood us in the past I don't expect this time to be any different either"

"If it was anyone else I would have agreed with you but Emma is trying, she has been reading up on all of you and trying to understand your DID" Casey informed him.

"Yet she still wants to arrest us" Dennis stated

"I don't think want is an accurate word, she's forced to because of what The Beast has done, but I really don't think she wants to arrest you and besides at least she's trying to understand you guys most other police officers wouldn't be so considerate"

"What will you do when you see her?" Dennis asked worriedly.

"I don't know really it depends on what she wants to talk about" Casey explained

"Will you tell her about us?" Dennis asked 

"I don't even know how I would start that conversation, hey Emma you know the guy your searching for the one who kidnapped me yeah well he came over the other day, got stabbed and then we slept together, I can't even imagine what Emma would say or do if I told her that" Casey chuckled.

"So I'll take that as a no you won't tell her" Dennis replied grinning a bit

Casey shook her head "Besides it will protect you to, if she thinks we haven't had any contact then she can't use me to get to you, not saying she would do it in a malicious sort of way but better to be safe than sorry right" Dennis nodded in agreement.

"I couldn't agree more with you on that" he smiled up at her and she leaned down to kiss him again, his hands traveled up her back pulling her closer, savoring the last precious minutes they had left together before Casey had to go.

Casey reluctantly broke away "I should get ready to go, don't want to keep her waiting too long" She sighed apologetically getting up and changed before coming back into the sitting room again watching Dennis slip on his freshly cleaned shirt from last night.

They embraced one last time by the door when Casey muttered a quiet "Thank you" 

"For what?" Dennis asked slightly confused.

"Wanting to see me, you made me feel the happiest I've ever been in a long time" Casey said sincerely. Dennis's heart melted as he brought her in for one last kiss.

"You did the same for me to Casey" Dennis whispered softly before letting her go and watching her as she left to get a taxi to the hospital.

Dennis stood there smiling to himself until someone broke his train of thought 

"Dennis what on earth were you thinking?"Patricia scolded him.

"I wanted to see her" Dennis protested 

"You did much more than that, I thought you were getting better you vile man" Patricia yelled disgusted "Need I remind you that your here to work not to satisfy your dirty habits, and now thanks to you we have missed out on a whole day of planning you should be ashamed" 

Dennis brought his head down sighing deeply, really not wanting to leave the best thing that happened to him like this but sensing he didn't have much of a choice. He forced himself out of the house and started the long journey back home, trying to ignore Patricia's spiteful comments as she continued to scold him for what he had done.


	20. A change in power

Casey finally got to the hospital and hopped out of the taxi, she had been thinking about Dennis the whole journey up there, as excited as she was to see Emma again she had missed her quite a bit but she really hadn't wanted to leave Dennis, partly because she missed him but partly because she had a nagging feeling that the others weren't done with him yet and would force him to help them accomplish some other dangerous crime or force him out of the light for good which terrified her more.

Before she could think anymore on it David appeared from the entrance of the hospital and ran up to greet her.

"Hey glad you could make it, Emma's been dying to see you again" David said with a smile.

"Same here I'm glad she's doing okay" Casey returned the smile.

"Okay well when your ready we can make our way inside and I'll take you to her room"

Casey breathed in before nodding her head "Okay I'm ready let's go" and with that they both stepped inside of the hospital together.

Casey hated hospitals, they were always to cramped and busy for her liking and made her feel claustrophobic. They also brought back bad memories of her father who had been rushed up here after having severe pains in his chest which had been the first sign of a heart attack, before dying shortly after, she always thought that hospitals were the most depressing places after that long sleepless stay up here.  
David escorted her to the far end of the hospital which was significantly quieter than the rest of it which she was grateful for but slightly surprised at.  
David seemed to read her mind and explained "the press came around earlier yesterday, Emma wanted them out of the way as soon as possible, can't say I blame her"

Casey couldn't either, she knew all too well what the press were like after the events after her kidnapping they always seemed to find ways of meeting up with her trying to get information out of her, which got tedious and a bit stressful sometimes she was glad when it was over.

David knocked on the door and let himself in   
"What is it I swear to god if it's another damn reporter I'm leaving this nuthouse"  
"Emma it's Casey she's here to see you is she allowed to come in" David asked.  
"Uhh is that a trick question of course she can, I've been dying for some decent company, why didn't you say anything earlier David?" Emma asked as David gestured for Casey to come in.   
"Well I was getting to that part but you butted in" David rolled his eyes at her.  
Casey walked into the boring, white room that Emma was staying in and turned to face Emma who was sat on the bed.  
"Casey it's good to see you again" Emma smiled at her.  
Casey gasped when she saw the dark bruises that surrounded Emma's neck, a souvenir of her encounter with The Beast. Casey was once again shocked by the differencesbetween The Beast and the other's, like Dennis. Dennis was kind and caring unlike this animal he shared a body with.  
Emma saw her staring and went to touch her neck.  
"I know it looks bad but it's actually healed up quite well, and I can talk now which is a huge bonus" Emma reassured her.  
"For you maybe, the only problem we have now is that we can't seem to shut you up" David replied lightheartedly.  
"Hey come on,I'm not that bad" Emma replied pretending to be hurt by David's comment.  
Casey laughed at their light banter it was refreshing to see them both laughing.  
Emma turned to her and said "anyway how have you been Casey, you look good, much better than the last time we met" she stated   
"Well yesterday was the first time I didn't have to worry about my uncle so yeah I feel much better" Casey beamed, there were other reasons why she was happy but she wasn't going to elaborate on that.  
"Good glad to hear your enjoying your new found freedom" Emma replied as she smiled at her.  
She was about to continue when the door slammed open, nearly falling of its hinges and a tall, dark haired man walked in wearing a black FBI jacket and black trousers stepped into the room, his black, shiny boots making thudding sounds as he walked.  
"Detective Price good to see you up and about" the young gentleman greeted as he stood up straight in a military manner.  
Casey didn't say anything but heard Emma sigh as she muttered "great" under her breath.  
"Agent Stevens, not that I don't want you here but... Oh wait I don't want you here, there's the door use it to let yourself out, oh and try not to break it for me there's a good chap" Emma gestured to the door, Casey could tell that she didn't have the best chemistry with this guy, her normally calm expression was replaced with a look of loathing when directed at this man.  
"You don't get to give me orders Emma, well not anymore, anywhere" he smirked at her "how's the life of a boring detective treating you?" He asked.  
"Better than you think Stevens" Emma replied with venom lacing her words "What are you doing here, what do you want?" She asked impatiently.  
"We're here to assist you with the case involving a Kevin Crumb" he replied handing her a letter, which she snatched out of his hand.  
"And what makes you think I would even want your help" she asked, scanning the letter.  
"Well it seems like you haven't done much already, and besides your not even apart of the case anymore" he mocked.  
"What why?" Emma asked   
"Oh something about reckless behaviour and how you would be a liability if you carried on the way you were, it's good to see some things will never change with you Emma" Stevens replied enjoying the look of loathing appearing on Emma's face   
"No, no, no you can't you need me on the case" Emma said frantically   
"Really and what could you possibly have that our best agents don't know already" Stevens asked   
"Well for starters I've met him, talked to him in person, I have information on him, hell do you even know anything about him at all" Emma argued   
"I know enough to know that he's dangerous and needs to be dealt with quickly" Stevens answered   
"What will you do, if you catch him" Casey asked   
"That's none of your concern, civilians don't need to know that" Stevens replied   
"That's Casey Cooke, she has every right to know,now answer the damn question Stevens,"Emma replied jumping off the bed to get right in his face , her chest heaving with the angry breaths she was making.  
"Bosses orders are to bring him in, but if he causes anymore deaths we have permission to shoot on sight"Stevens said bluntly as if he didn't feel the weight of the words he'd just said. Emma's face fell "you cannot be serious"Emma whispered.  
"He's a monster Emma even you can't argue with that "Stevens yelled out.   
"He's not a monster, if you really are FBI than you should know that the man you're looking for has DID, you know what that means, you're not just dealing with one person you're dealing with many just in the same body, some of them aren't even apart of the case, it's only a select few that are apart of the case, if you catch him,help him, don't kill him" Casey yelled. Everyone seemed shocked about her sudden outburst, Emma however was watching her through narrowed eyes, as if she were studying her, she stayed like that for a few moments before turning her attention back on Stevens.   
"Unfortunately, we can't just pick out the identities we want to arrest and let the others walk free, I don't buy it, the whole multiple personality thing, it just seems like a load of bullshit someone would make up just to walk free, so forgive me if I don't change my mind "he sneered. Casey snapped then and came charging towards him with murder in her eyes, David managed to intercept her and held her back before she did anything reckless, she started kicking and screaming trying to struggle out of David's strong grip, but to no avail.   
"David take her outside, let her cool off "Emma ordered as she watched David pick her up and drag her out of the room as she carried on making loud snarling sounds trying to get out of his hold on her.   
Stevens smirked before saying "you keep some strange company Emma "  
Emma replied "She's been through more than you'll ever understand Stevens"Emma retorted " She's right you know, you can't just go killing people just because their different, now please if there is any compassion, any sign of a heart in that black hole where it should be, please I'm begging you to reconsider you're options, you don't know what you're up against "Emma begged  
Stevens replied "just some sick animal who needs to be put down,but that's okay because he doesn't know what he's up against either" Stevens grinned psychotically.  
Emma breathed a silent laugh "Wow if this is how corrupt the agency has made you I'm glad I left when I did"she whispered, "goodbye Stevens"Emma replied turning around to leave.  
"Emma"Stevens yelled out making her turn around, eyebrows raised "you get in my way I'll kill you too, you understand "he threatened.   
Emma shook her head and chuckled "don't count on it "she replied before walking out and going to find David and Casey.


	21. Freelancing

Emma found Casey and David in an empty office David had let go of Casey but she still had adrenaline coursing through her so she was pacing up and down the length of the office when Emma walked in. Casey marched straight up to Emma with an intense fire in her brown eyes .

"Please tell me you convinced him to change his mind" she demanded

"I said my bit Casey but he is very stuck in his own ways and very difficult to change I'm sorry" Emma said keeping her tone calm and steady despite the fact that Casey seemed more enraged by what she had said.

"So what do we do now, nothing, I'm sorry Emma but I can't do that you know I can't" Casey stated.

Emma sat down in one of the leather spinning chairs that was tucked underneath the desk next to the computer and gestured for Casey to sit on the other one before saying.

"There's not much I can do on the case now that I have been kicked off" Emma explained "but it doesn't mean I'm not going to do whatever it takes to help save this case on the outside" Emma added as she saw Casey's anger double when she said the first part.

"Wait are you suggesting we go against everything we have just been told and go rogue?" David asked "Emma that's insane"

"I prefer to call it freelancing, David come on when you first started out didn't you fight crime without any help or permission from the cops, what's the difference honestly?" Emma argued.

"The difference back then is that I was dealing with much less dangerous criminals than what we're facing now, this guy is much stronger than us, faster and will kill us with no remorse and we won't have any back up to help us this time" David replied "So unless you have a miraculous plan that won't end up in us getting killed I really don't see what we can do"

"Well it's a good job one of us has a plan then" Emma remarked before saying "Casey could you pass me my jacket,it's over there on the coat rack left it in here the last time I was in here" Emma asked as Casey jumped up to retrieve her coat, Emma looked at David who was looking at her in surprise "Come on David did you really expect me to sit here wasting time in bed"

"Are you gonna explain what it is you are planning?" David asked still confused by what Emma was doing.

"When Elijah was arrested I mad sure that he had a tracker transplanted for, well this very moment, all the inmates have them as it makes it easier to find them before they hurt anyone, unfortunately when The Beast attacked the asylum the last thing on everyone's mind was to activate them, so Elijah walked free, however I managed to link it up to my phone whilst I was stuck being bored in here, all I have to do now is activate it on my phone and it will give us an exact lock on his location, I know it won't lead us directly to The Beast but at least it's a start" Emma explained looking around at both of their impressed faces.

David chuckled before saying "Your bloody brilliant you know that don't you?"

Emma shrugged her shoulders before replying "When one is dealing with a dangerously smart criminal such as Elijah Price, one learns to be prepared and since I know him and how he thinks, I knew I had to be one step ahead"she started typing frantically on her phone and then hit a single button before explaining " I've now activated the tracker, give it a few minutes and hopefully it will give us the location"

They all waited impatiently whilst it started trying to locate.

 

The phone went off, making Casey and David jump, Emma sprang out of the chair and snatched her phone from the table, scribbling the address of the location on a small piece of paper and handing it over to David   
" here try and find this on GPS, hopefully we'll have enough time to find him before Stevens does"  
David nodded before leaving the room to go to his car, leaving Emma and Casey alone together . Emma sat back in her chair breathing heavily, as she studied Casey again.   
" You've met him again haven't you " Emma asked, not disgusted and not interrogative but just concerned. Casey nodded before asking   
" how did you know " Emma chuckled,   
" Well if your outburst didn't give it away, you're shaking ever since you found out I was kicked off the case and no offence Casey but you look like you haven't freshened up since we last spoke " Emma replied "who was it?"  
"Dennis" Casey couldn't even look at Emma as she whispered his name.  
Emma leaned back on the chair and sighed " but he's changed now Emma , he's different, he doesn't want to do this anymore, he needs our help"  
"Casey, why was he there?"   
"He wanted to see me, he was really rough that day, he hated what he did, I talked to him and he doesn't want to be apart of this anymore" Casey explained.  
"Why are you so worried about him in particular?" Emma asked exasperated.  
"I'm worried about all of them" Casey retaliated.  
"Really then why out of all of the alters we know he has have you been so obsessed with Dennis?" Emma responded.  
"Because I love him" Casey yelled at her, before realising what she had said " I know how crazy that sounds but when he was around that day, he was so caring , so kind that... I don't have to explain my feelings to you, why should I?"   
" because right now Casey, there is a not so friendly FBI agent taking over the case who is gonna be looking for any kind of leverage over them he can find, if he finds out you'll become the perfect leverage for him to use" Emma explained " I need you to be careful about this"  
"Okay what do I do?" Casey asked after calming down.   
" you can't see him again, if they find out your seeing him, I won't be able to protect you or him" Emma answered as she watched Casey's heart drop. "It's gonna be hard Casey but if we want to keep them safe, you're going to have to be extremely careful until things die down " Emma replied.  
"Why does it matter to you anyway, have you ever been put in a situation like this with the one you love?" Casey bit back.  
"No, I did the opposite actually, she died because of it , so I'm telling you now Casey, if you want him to live, if you really want to help them, stay away from them" Emma snapped before walking out of the room leaving Casey standing alone and perplexed


	22. Insight

David was waiting in the car when Casey slipped into the passenger seat.

"Where's Emma?" David asked looking over at Casey.  
"Don't know, she walked out after our little talk earlier" Casey grumbled.  
"What was it about?" David asked   
"She said I need to be careful about what I say around the new guy, like I don't already know that" Casey threw her arms up as she said that.  
"I'm sure she's just worried about you, that's all, she just has a funny way of displaying it correctly sometimes, and the stress of being kicked off the case isn't going to help" David explained.   
"I know, it's just sometimes I feel like I have no freedom to do what I want again and I just, I just want that freedom back" Casey answered truthfully.  
David studied her before saying "she found out something you didn't like didn't she?" David asked.  
Casey nodded before asking " if you were given advice which could save someone you loved, but it meant that you might not see them again, would you do it? "   
David leaned back in the seat to really consider the question.   
"If it meant keeping them safe, I would do it, especially if that's what Emma told you, sometimes we have to do the hardest things to keep the people we love safe"  
"Emma lost someone didn't she?, who was it? " Casey asked intrigued as to who this mysterious character could be.   
"Her name was Laura, and was probably the best thing that happened to her" David explained. Casey turned in her seat.   
"Tell me more"  
"Okay well, it was just when Emma had started her career as a detective, she was already solving quite big cases and was starting to get a reputation, we would work together, solving crimes, making sure the right people were locked up. This case we did a while back... it was tricky to say the least, Emma got frustrated and needed air, she heard shouting a few blocks away from us and went to investigate, Emma saw Laura getting beaten, black and blue by a man who, as it turned out was her father, and also the mastermind behind the case we were on " Emma was the arresting officer that day and made sure he got a life sentence"   
Casey stared at him in shock " Wow and they allowed that?"  
"Yeah, I mean Emma did threaten to throw away her badge, which they wouldn't allow, she's the best they have, they didn't want her to quit so they listened to her pretty sharpish" David chuckled remembering that day fondly.   
"What happened?" Casey asked   
"Well after the events that got her father arrested, Laura had nowhere to go, she didn't have any other family, she refused to live in the same apartment her father used to torment her in, so Emma stepped up and said she could live with her, she stayed there for months, she struggled to recover after what her father put her through, Emma helped and during that time they both started getting closer, Emma used to deny it but, I mean it was obvious, sure Emma had always been a flirt , she would be chatting up people all night if she could, but when Laura came in to the scene she stopped, Laura was special I'd never seen Emma like this before, it took her a while but Emma finally grew the balls to ask her out, and they were happy, Emma was completely different to what she is now, but death changes people especially in those circumstances, you see Emma made enemies in her previous job, as an agent you're bound to, but she had dangerous enemies, who would like nothing more than to hurt her or her loved ones " David broke before he could continue.   
" How did she die? "Casey asked curious about what happened to her.   
David swallowed a lump that had appeared at the back of his throat.  
"Emma was working on a case, it was late by the time she got back and when she did, Laura had been killed in her sleep , someone had broken in with a bloody knife and slit her neck"   
Casey stared in shock at the sudden revelation in the story.  
"We never found the murderer, Emma was never the same after that, she blamed herself for everything, she's never been good at forgiving herself but this, it broke her, she became elusive, spent more time at home, which then led to the drugs and alcohol, she knew it was bad, but she just couldn't bring herself to care, she did that for months, years after the events, we tried weaning her off but she just couldn't help herself, always finding more and passing out every time, one day I came over and found her with two deep cuts on both her wrists, she was so ready to give up she would go as far as suicide to end it, luckily the ambulance arrived just in time, we were able to save her, when she came round she vowed she would put that life behind her, I don't know what gave her this new sense of hope but,as far as I know she's kept to it for now" David concluded   
"Your worried she's going to slip into bad habits again? " Casey asked   
"I always worry about that, problem is that once you go down that route, it's very easy to slip into it again, and with everything going on I wouldn't be surprised if it set her off again" David replied, Casey raised her eyebrows   
"Again, how many times has she done this"   
"She's been on and off about five times now, each time gets harder to steer her away from it I don't think we can afford for her to slip up like that again" David answered honestly before glancing back at the satnav, they sat in silence until David sighed in relief   
"I found the location and luckily it's not too far from here, we can get there easily early tomorrow, if we avoid the rush hour traffic" David exclaimed excitedly.  
Casey felt excitement build up inside her too, but for a very different reason, hopefully this meant she would be one step closer to seeing Dennis again which gave her butterflies in her stomach the more she thought about it.  
Casey looked out of her window just as Emma was approaching the car, before she could get closer some news reporters came swooping in out of nowhere and started bombarding her with questions.  
"Ohh that's not good" David groaned but before getting out of the car Emma looked in their direction and shook her head slightly, a subtle warning to stay in the car. Which both of them followed leaving Emma to deal with more questions from the persistent press.


	23. complications

Dennis had been home for a few days, since he'd met with Casey and had spent most of it in his room, he'd opened the door to see Elijah sat at the table working on his projects.  
"And where the hell have you been?" He asked almost aggressively.   
"Out" he replied before walking out of his room and shutting the door behind him before leaning back on it taking shaky breaths as he felt his wound starting to feel sore, he wasn't really surprised, considering what he did a few nights before.  
He allowed a small smile to grace his face as he remembered the feeling of his skin on Casey's, the taste of her, the small moans that escaped her when he was inside her.   
"Excuse me Mr Dennis" Hedwig stuttered interrupting his train of thought, he walked into the kitchen away from Elijah so he could talk to Hedwig.  
" What is it Hedwig? " Dennis asked patiently   
Dennis had a soft spot for the kid, sure his tendency to leave the place in a mess just to annoy him and his habit of stealing the light at inconvenient times could get tedious and annoying at times , but he was just a kid so Dennis was more lenient than he would have been with the others, although they were nowhere near as close as him and Patricia, they did get along quite well. At the zoo, Dennis would always try and find things to keep him busy, like toys, games, colouring things like that. Dennis remembered fondly when he got hedwig the pet mice at work, his whole face lit up with excitement when he saw them, much to Patricia's disappointment, she wasn't too keen on animals, but rodents to her were vermin and that was all, she didn't want to upset Hedwig though so the mice stayed.  
"Are you okay, etcetera?" Hedwig asked quietly   
"Yeah , why wouldn't I be?" Dennis replied putting on a brave front for the boy, he didn't like looking scared in front of him, he needed hope now more than ever that everything was going to be okay.  
" Miss Patricia says you've done a bad thing, that The Beast isn't happy with you etcetera " Hedwig stuttered " she says he's gonna make you sleep like Kevin" he muttered that last part.  
"I'm sure they're just saying that to scare you Hedwig, I'll be fine you'll see " Dennis lied not being able to bring himself to tell him the truth, it seemed to work a little bit though, so that was good.  
"Mr Dennis, can I tell you a secret?" Hedwig whispered nervously.   
"Go for it " Dennis humoured him   
"I'm scared of The Beast, Miss Patricia says as long as I behave he won't hurt me etcetera but.... you're still gonna protect us right?" Hedwig wondered.   
"I'll try, like always, I promise and Hedwig don't worry, The Beast scares me too" Dennis assured him   
"You're a big fibber Mr Dennis" Hedwig replied   
"And why's that?"   
"You're not afraid of anything etcetera" Hedwig answered before going back to his seat and falling asleep.   
Dennis huffed out a laugh at that last part, if only that were true, he thought, before he heard Mr Glass calling for him in the other room.   
"Hey Sir you might want to come out here" he called.   
Dennis groaned before swinging the door open "What is it? " he asked not in the mood to talk to anyone at the moment.  
"The news , watch it" Elijah replied pointing to the television which was on the news channel.  
Dennis saw the young detective, Emma Price doing an interview with the reporters.   
She looked good, all things considered, although the bruises on her neck proved that she hadn't escaped unscathed.   
"Detective Price, is it true that you have been removed from the case? " they asked her.   
"Yes it's true, I have been removed from the case due to a medical discharge, which will allow me to have time to recover from my injuries" Emma explained looking impatiently around the area.   
"So what is being done now that you are stepping down?"   
"Well, the FBI is now assisting us , we have a great team of agents led by agent Eric Stevens , who will aid in the capture of this man before anyone else gets hurt" Emma explained as Stevens stepped out of the hospital to face the press as well, making the press lose all focus on Emma and running up to him, giving Emma a great opportunity to slip away unseen.   
Agent Stevens looked like a tough guy, he was built like a tank, he had black military styled hair and gave off a very intimidating aura.  
"Agent Stevens how does it feel to be taking over the case? "   
"Well hopefully now that we're here, we'll be able to catch this man and get him off the streets asap, I would like to warn people that we will be carrying firearms as a deterrent at all times primarily after curfew" Stevens nodded.   
"So what is being done to find the suspect"  
"We're going to be working with the police to track him down, and we have orders to bring him in if he cooperates " he answered   
"And what if he won't cooperate?"  
"Our orders are to bring him in, however if his actions threaten the loss of more lives, we have been given permission to shoot on sight, that is all I have time for ladies and gentlemen, now if you'll excuse me " Stevens finished before walking back into the hospital, the press following directly behind.   
Dennis stared at the screen in shock, this was a shocking turn of events, one that could not be taken lightly.   
"Wow congratulations, you're now probably considered one of the most dangerous criminals of this century" Elijah mocked.   
Dennis couldn't speak or move, they couldn't escape this, cops they could avoid, but this, this was a whole other ball game.   
"We can't avoid this forever " Dennis mumbled   
"We can and we will, we just need to be careful and take precautions " Patricia whispered   
"Patricia they want to shoot us" Dennis yelled   
"The Beast will protect us, why are you so worried, you've seen the damage a shotgun caused"  
"Yes but he's the only one of us that can survive that, what if they shoot one of us" Dennis tried to reason with her   
"Enough Dennis, enough, we stick to the plan and follow The Beast's orders, now stop worrying and get on with the task at hand" Patricia snapped before going silent.   
Dennis placed his hands over his face and heaved a sigh, he was starting to feel extremely agitated, The Beast was going to get them all killed soon if he wasn't careful, and it seemed like the only one who could see it was him. Before he could ponder on the situation further he heard a knock on the door.  
"Who the hell could that be?" Elijah asked glaring at the door as if he could burn it down with his stare.   
Dennis walked slowly towards it before, cautiously swinging it open.  
On the other side stood the detective herself and Casey beside her.   
"Mr Crumb, we need to talk and we don't have much time" Emma spoke quickly.


	24. Backfire

Dennis stared at the detective in shock.   
"How can you be here? " he asked "you, you were on the news, ten minutes ago" he said confused   
"A decoy, she took my place so I could slip away unseen, look can I come in?, I have a lot to tell you and not much time" Emma spoke quickly, looking behind her nervously.   
Dennis considered it before replying "I can't, if I do any more stupid mistakes The Beast will never let me have the light again, please just go before I hurt you again" he started shutting the door before Casey ran forward   
"Dennis please, Emma just wants to help you" she tried to reason with him.   
Dennis knocked his head against the door frame, making a soft thud as he did.   
"Casey I can't do it alright, seeing you was my last straw, I don't know what I was thinking, I should never have done it, now just go please" Dennis said in a defeated tone.   
"For fuck sake, I don't have time for this" Emma growled, before ramming into the door and catching Dennis off guard, nearly making him fall.   
As he regained his balance, Emma casually walked inside.   
"Right now I have your attention, listen very carefully as this could save your life, right now, as I'm sure you already know, I am not on the case anymore, instead your being hunted" Emma explained rapidly "An FBI agent called Eric Stevens, who will stop at nothing until your either dead or dead, there is no in between with this guy"   
"The Beast will protect us" Dennis recited the same tedious line.   
"The Beast is the reason you're in this mess" Emma lashed out finally losing patience and turned to face Casey "I thought you said he'd changed, that he'd be willing to help, don't hate me for saying this but he's not exactly cooperating" Emma whispered aggressively to her.   
"Well that tends to happen when you barge into people's homes" Casey answered exasperated "look let me try talking to him, I might be able to change his mind"   
Emma sighed "fine, fine, but if he doesn't listen, we're leaving" Emma replied aggressively before giving them space to talk.   
Casey turned to face Dennis who was stood staring at her stony faced.  
"Well she really seems like she cares about us" Dennis scoffed   
"Dennis I'm really sorry about Emma, she's going through a rough time, and now she's trying desperately to make sure you don't die because of some psychotic agent who doesn't believe that DID exists" Casey told him, nearly breaking down, until Dennis cupped her cheeks.   
"I saw him on the news but what do you mean he doesn't believe it exists?"   
"I don't know he just thinks your using it to get away with crime, he thinks it would be better to kill you, than bring you in" Casey said tearfully.   
"What does she suggest I do?, Patricia and The Beast won't back down from this and Hedwig is too afraid to resist giving them the light, I'm not really seeing an upside to this Casey" Dennis replied   
"Well, what about Barry, Hedwig told me he can control who gets the light, if you two worked together you may just be able to overpower him" Casey suggested.   
"Me and Barry, we don't get along really, I don't know if he'll listen to me , especially now" 

"Make him, we can't let The Beast win, otherwise I'll never be able to see you again" Casey cried   
"No please don't say that, you're the only reason I'm staying strong, if I lose you to.... I don't think I could live with that" Dennis murmured bringing her closer to him and she buried her head in the crook of his neck, stroking the spikes of hair on the back of his head.   
"I don't know what Emma's plan is but right now, it seems like our best option" Casey whispered to him, she heard him breath into her hair before nodding and saying "Alright , I'll give her a chance"  
Casey gave him a small smile, which he returned before giving her a small kiss, Casey forgot how he made her feel when his lips were on hers until that moment. Casey realised she felt free and she sensed Dennis did too.   
"Woah, that's enough lovebirds, we've got more important things to be doing" Emma yelled.   
They broke away and Casey turned to glare at her.Emma chuckled as she walked towards them.  
"Sorry for killing your moment, but we do have more important things to discuss, I take it she's convinced you now" Emma looked at Dennis who nodded slowly before asking   
"

What do you need me to do"   
"I need you to get out of town, I'm giving you some directions to a.... safeish location, it's away from people and will be the last place Stevens will think to look" Emma explained quickly, handing him a piece of paper with a scribbled on address.   
"How do I know I can trust this address" Dennis asked suspiciously.   
"Because I used to live there, now if you want to get a head start on Stevens I suggest you leave asap" Emma replied.   
"Thank you" Dennis nodded   
"Don't thank me yet" Emma muttered   
"Always playing the hero, eh Emma" Elijah mocked   
"Nope just being a good cop Elijah"  
"Ah I see you still believe you have a moral compass"  
"It's better than your non existent one" Emma lashed out aggressively   
"And yet here we are, the criminal mastermind and the rogue detective, what would mother think hmm?" He asked.  
"Wait, mother, you two are related?"Casey asked shocked.   
"By name not blood, I was adopted by Elijah's mother when my parents abandoned me, Elijah never got along with me really, such a jealous child weren't you Elijah?" Emma taunted.   
"Don't act so innocent Emma, your so called friends bullied me for who I am, and did you step in and help, no you're no less guilty than me" Elijah spat   
"I think I've paid the price for that, wouldn't you say" Emma growled, looking at him with hatred, before Elijah started chuckling   
"Not yet, but you will" he promised before whispering "I knew about the tracker" watching Emma's face drop.   
"What did you do?" Emma shouted "Elijah what did you do?"  
"I'm sorry, Emma but I'm just doing what I have to for survival, I'm sure you understand, give Stevens my regards" he grinned.  
Emma turned around just in time to see an agent, on the opposite roof, ready to fire at Dennis, she ran towards him and pushed him out the way just as the shot was fired.  
The bullet buried itself into her shoulder, and Emma collapsed on the floor, crying out in pain as she went to grab it.   
"Shit" she cursed " Emma stared at Dennis.   
"You need to get out of here, both of you, is there a backdoor or something?" she gasped.  
"No but there's a window" Dennis replied "problem is it won't be a soft landing"   
"Is there anything you can use to break the fall?" Casey asked keeping her cool.  
"Nope, nothing that'll fit anyway, I have to let him loose" Dennis realised   
"What, no that's not happening" Casey hissed realisation dawning on her face.   
They heard shouting outside and realised they were trying to break the doors down.   
"We don't have much time, what's your plan Dennis?" Emma asked quickly.   
"I can't make the fall, but The Beast can, he'll get us out I know it" Dennis said confidently.   
"You sure he won't hurt Casey?"  
"She's pure, she'll be safe with us, I promise" Dennis reassured her. Emma nodded turning to face Casey.   
"No I'm not leaving without you" Casey whined.   
"Casey please" Emma spoke in a stern tone, before sighing and closing her eyes "look I've already lost too many people I care about, don't make me add to that list, go with him , get out of here and keep safe, I'll see you soon yeah " Emma gave her a weak smile as Casey felt tears fall down her cheeks.   
"I can't leave you here, what will happen to you if I do?"   
"Best not think about it, come here" Emma put her arm out for a hug which Casey accepted "I'm sorry Casey" she said before injecting her with a sedative which knocked her out, Emma held her as the drug knocked her out completely, she heard her muffled "no" before she was sleeping soundly.   
Emma gestured to The Beast to take her "get her out of here, if she never forgives me look after her" her voice broke as The Beast looked down at her before picking her up and carrying her in his arms.   
"We will protect her, that's a promise, we will remember you for this" he growled before jumping out the window, leaving Emma to face her fate alone.


	25. Unplanned meeting

The night of the crime scene at philidelphia zoo....

Elijah Price had been in this asylum for fifteen years so far, that meant it had been twelve years of trying to find a way out of this hell hole.

He was getting restless, and there was only so much walking around in the same room he could take. He didn't get many visitors, apart from her annoying sister, Emma who was just here to make sure he couldn't get out, she did try talking to him but Elijah shut her down pretty quickly, he hated conversation at the best of times but she just drained him, pretending that she cared.

One of the guards knocked on the door loudly.   
"Rise and shine Price, you have a visitor" he shouted in a gravelly voice.   
"No thank you, I'm not in the mood for any more lectures from that annoying little shit of a sister, not today, so tell her to piss off from me" he answered back, hobbling towards the door.   
"It ain't your sister, Price" came the response.   
"Come again" Elijah replied, not believing what he'd heard.   
"It ain't her" the guard repeated.   
"Then who the hell is it?" Elijah asked his voice becoming a bit more hostile.   
"Some agent, says he's a fan of your work, and wants to meet you"   
"Why would an agent be interested in me?" Elijah asked.  
"Why don't you ask him yourself Price?" The guard yelled back before he started unlocking the metal door.   
Elijah stepped back as the door slowly swung open, letting this agent to walk through, before it was shut behind him with a creak.   
The agent walked over to him, in a military fashion.   
"Mr Glass, I'm glad we could finally meet, I'm a fan of your work" he greeted.   
"Yeah, the guard mentioned that, now I don't mean to be rude but who the hell are you and what do you want?" Elijah asked glaring at the agent not fully trusting him.   
"Forgive me, where are my manners?, my name is agent Eric Stevens" he greeted by extending his arm out for him to shake.  
Elijah looked at the hand before shaking his head and saying "I don't shake hands, so you can put yours down"  
Stevens looked up at him with raised eyebrows, before slowly putting his hand behind his back.   
"Why not, I wonder, is it because you might break your's?" He asked watching the shock reveal itself on Elijah's stony faced expression "don't act so shocked, I've been doing my research on you and I must say, you're talents are wasted here, what would you say if I could get you out?"   
"What's the catch?" Elijah asked "come on, you think I'm stupid agent, you people never care about someone like us, unless there's a catch"  
"Huh, smart most other people don't ask about that" Stevens replied impressed "the only catch I can think of is that you'll have to work with me" Stevens suggested.   
"Anything else? " Elijah asked   
"Well I could have said you would have to turn against your sister, but you don't have the best relationship, can't say I blame you, she was an annoying little prick in the agency aswell, so we do have that in common" Stevens returned.   
"What do you want from me?" Elijah asked impatiently.   
"Emma has been called upon to do an investigation on a crime scene at Philadelphia zoo, the suspect is a man called Kevin Crumb, he has dissociative identity disorder, one of his personalities, I've heard, is more animal than man, he's incredibly strong and fast" Stevens paused  
"You're point being" Elijah gestured for him to continue   
"I did a little digging, I found some files belonging to his therapist, Doctor Karen Fletcher, they mostly give descriptions on all the personalities, names,ages, traits etcetera, but what I found interesting was that three of them believed in this other identity and what he could do, now it says here that his mission is to protect the pure, the broken and the weak"   
"What is your point to all this? " Elijah growled impatiently.   
"He wants to protect the weak and the broken, apparently that means people who have suffered, Elijah he'll be looking for people like you, the purest of the human race, it's a long shot but if I tipped him off you could be out of here in no time at all, so what do you say" Stevens said.   
"Let me get this straight, you want to put my life in the hands of a broken man, who may or may not rescue me, you're insane" Elijah remarked.   
"Okay well, here's something to sweeten the deal, I promise that together we're going to make sure your sister suffers" Stevens answered   
"How do I know I can trust you?" Elijah asked, tempted but not enough to be fully swayed by the offer.  
Stevens chuckled "Mr Glass, did you know that when you got here, you're sister, implanted a tracker into you" he asked Elijah's face gave it away that he didn't "I thought not, Emma was very sneaky when she did it, luckily for you I know where it is and I can take it out very easily, there's just one thing I need you to do, don't get rid of it, that way I can track you but we can also lead Emma into a trap using her equipment against her"   
"How will you know she's there?" Elijah asked   
"Well that's where you come in, I'm giving you a copy of my number, dial it when you're with her, that way we can both be ready" Elijah nodded liking the intricacy of the plan.  
"Well, I only have one question" Elijah replied, leaning on his glass cane.  
"Shoot" Stevens replied  
"This guy, Crumb whatever, he sounds like a dangerous man"   
Stevens nodded before asking "your question"   
"What do you intend to do with him?"   
"Kill him, if all goes well" Stevens replied , looking around at his unbreakable poker face "That's not a problem is it?" He asked   
"Do I look like a sentimental man to you agent?"  
"I suppose not" Stevens smirked   
"As long as it doesn't affect my survival, I'll be fine"  
Stevens smiled menacingly, before turning to walk out, "I look forward to meeting you again, Mr Glass, but next time out of bars" he nodded farewell and walked out the room, leaving Elijah to his thoughts.


	26. The other side

Emma breathed as she watched the door give way to the army of agents that were knocking it down. She had never felt so helpless, her only consolation was that at least Casey would be safe, she had to laugh at the irony of that, Casey was actually safer with a criminal rather than the people trying to catch him.

The door came crashing down and the room was flooded with agents in helmets, they all had different firearms half of which were now all trained on her,whilst the others scouted the area, clearing each room as they went.   
A few minutes later and Stevens walked into the room like he owned the place. Him and Elijah greeted each other like they were old friends before turning to face Emma who was leaning against a wall, looking at the two men.   
"Wow now I'm staring at the two people I hate the most in this world, I don't know which one of you is the less ugly one" Emma managed a laugh "in all fairness, I think it's pretty even"  
Elijah rolled his eyes at the comment   
"How is it that even when your beaten, you still manage to be sarcastic?" Stevens huffed frustrated.  
"It's one of my best qualities" Emma replied.   
"It's a mask, she's scared, she's trying to hide it with sarcastic comments" Elijah growled.   
"Why on earth would I be afraid of you brother?" Emma asked grinning when Elijah flinched at the word.  
"That's enough, where are the others?" Stevens roared, kneeling down next to her.   
"I don't know" Emma shrugged.   
"Stop, lying" Stevens yelled   
"Stevens stop yelling, I can smell your breath, jesus do you even clean your teeth Stevens " Emma gagged.   
"I don't have time for your pathetic little games, tell me where they are" he whispered in a deadly calm voice, quite the opposite of what he'd sounded like earlier.   
"Here, or there"   
"What?" He cocked his head   
"Well, they're either here or there, I don't know which one though" Emma explained cockily.   
Stevens chuckled "your an insufferable human being, you know that don't you?"   
Emma was about to respond when Stevens hit her as hard as he could in the jaw. Emma let out a groan as she moved it back and forth to see if it was broken, she could feel blood in her mouth so she knew a gum or a lip must be cut. Suddenly she was pulled back up and her body was slammed back up against the wall.   
"Now we're going to try that again, where are the others?" Stevens asked in that calm voice.   
"Piss off" Emma said through gritted teeth before she was met with another blow to the face.  
"This is gonna get worse before it gets better Emma, unless you tell us where they are" Stevens threatened lifting her back out.   
Emma responded by spitting in his face, feeling great satisfaction as blood made it's way down his face.   
"Do your worse Stevens, my lips are sealed" Emma retorted.   
"We'll see" Stevens grinned, wiping his face when he got up.  
Emma took this brief respite to take stock of the situation, Stevens and Elijah were talking in hushed tones so they weren't done yet she knew that. She knew she was going to have to buy The Beast and Casey as much time as she could, as long as the attention was on her they were safe...ish.  
She had to think of something to hold onto, so she wouldn't break. As she considered what she could use as her anchor, she heard Elijah say "do what you have to" before walking out of the room.   
"Wait, where is he going?" Emma asked struggling to lift herself up to follow him.   
"Wherever he wants, he's a free man" Stevens explained with a smirk.  
"What, are you insane?, your letting one of the most dangerous criminals walk free, what the fuck is wrong with you Stevens?" Emma exclaimed.   
"It was part of our deal, but that's not important right now, are you ready to tell us about your friends location yet?" Stevens asked a hint of lunacy surrounded him.  
"Nope"   
Stevens shook his head "you know you'd save yourself a lot of suffering if you just told us"  
"Well that's not gonna happen Stevens, sorry to be a buzzkill" Emma replied, readying herself for what was coming next.   
Stevens landed another blow to her face, before lifting her up with her wounded shoulder. Emma tried hard not to scream but in the end the pain just got too much, she writhed around trying to break free of Stevens's death grip.   
"You know Emma, I expected you to be a bit more cooperative, after all your stupid mistakes, Laura would be ashamed of you" he whispered.   
Emma roared then, with a new found anger causing a new rush of adrenaline to course through her body, she managed to break free and tackled Stevens to the floor. She pinned him down, breathing heavily, she punched him hard in the face.   
"Don't ever talk about her, you hear me" she yelled grabbing his collar and looking into his snake like eyes "you don't deserve to talk about her"   
Emma suddenly felt a shock on her ribs as one of the agents used a taser to subdue her. Emma ended up on the floor, feeling breathless and a silent tear making it's way down her cheeks , as her muscles jerked due to the shock.  
Stevens stood over her shaking his head.   
"You never learn do you?" He looked at the agent before saying "cuff her, and take her to her new home, I'm not done with her yet"   
"Yes sir" the agent cuffed her hands behind her back before dragging her onto her feet.   
"You know Emma, I think you got it wrong, you didn't deserve Laura, she was good and well look at you, your just pathetic" he sneered.   
Emma didn't say anything for a while, she looked defeated except her eyes burned with an intense hatred.   
"You know what Stevens?, your right, I didn't deserve her but I still loved her , and one day I'm gonna make sure you pay for everything you've done today" Emma answered coldly.   
"Ha ha, look at that, you finally snapped, welcome to the other side of the wanted list Emma, I hope you hate it as much as I'll enjoy watching it" Stevens laughed hysterically as Emma was dragged off to a car and taken away.


	27. New home

It had been a few hours since Casey had woken up from the sedative Emma had cunningly drugged her with, it had also been a few hours since Casey's anger had hit an all time high.  
She was still angry but it had subsided, she was angry at different people for different reasons.  
She was angry with Stevens for relentlessly hunting Dennis and the others down and for coming up with new ways to make things hell for her and Emma.   
She was definitely angry with Emma, for many reasons, although it all boiled down to her drugging her and then refusing to come with them, Casey was now worried about what had happened to her now that she was easy prey for Stevens.   
Finally she was angry with The Beast for leaving Emma behind, when she woke up and realised Emma wasn't with them she had begged him to go back, pounded on his chest with her fists when he refused trying to persuade him to save her, but he just shook his head and refused, saying their safety came first and that Emma knew that. That's when she got really angry and started screaming and throwing plates, glass cups, anything she could find at The Beast until he picked her up and threw her into another room, locking the door behind him.  
Now Casey was pacing up and down the room, not feeling amused by the de ja vu she was feeling. She felt a bit sorry for acting like that but after everything Emma had done for her she felt guilty that there was nothing she could do to save her.  
The room she was in was a lot nicer than the one at the zoo, it had a window with a view overlooking lush green fields, the room itself was spacious and warm and had an old fashioned appearance, like something from an old Victorian scene, just slightly modernised to keep up with the times. Casey couldn't picture Emma living here at all, mind you, Emma didn't strike Casey as a settling down type of person, hence why she probably didn't talk about this place before. She did wonder how Emma ended up with a property like this though, she didn't think she would go out her way to buy a house like this.   
Casey was brought back to the present when the door opened gently. Casey turned to see Hedwig's mischievous face peeking through the door.   
"Hedwig is that you?" Casey asked making sure it was the nine year old boy.   
"Of course, it's me, don't, don't you recognise me?" Hedwig asked with a pout.   
"No, no of course I do" Casey reassured him and he smiled relaxing a bit "how have you been Hedwig?" She asked.   
"I've been okay, it's been kinda lonely lately etcetera, everyone's too busy to play with me , so it gets kinda boring" Hedwig stuttered   
"Well we could play a game if you want" Casey offered.   
"Really, you want to?" Hedwig's eyes lit up then as he started getting excited.   
"Sure, what do you want to play?" Casey asked.   
"Can we play hide and seek, it's gonna be really hard for you to find me cos this place is huge etcetera" Hedwig explained "your it start counting, no peeking etcetera" Hedwig yelled as he ran off to hide.   
Casey started laughing before giving him time to find a hiding place. She left the confines of her luxury prison cell and went to look for Hedwig, who wasn't lying about the size of the house. It was huge it was set up just like the other room but was more magnificent the more she looked, complete with a spiral staircase and an incredible glass chandelier, this really didn't strike Casey as Emma's sort of place. She turned her attention back to finding Hedwig, she walked into the study, which had a small desk and computer set up, she checked under the desk but he wasn't hidden under there, Casey sighed before leaving and shutting the door before her quietly.   
Casey went downstairs into the living room which was a nice dark red colour with gold around the edges of the floor and ceiling. She nearly walked into a glass table which was set up by the sofa, on it was a glass photo frame. The picture was taken somewhere on a beach, the people to Casey's surprise was a very happy Emma with her arms around a beautiful auburn haired girl with stunning emerald eyes, she seemed to be laughing at something when the picture was taken, that must be Laura, Casey thought. Emma was the happiest Casey had seen her, there was no emptiness in her expression like there usually was and she had a huge grin plastered on her face. She looked younger, like nothing worried her, Casey would have loved to have known Emma back then.   
"That's the detective lady isn't it?" Hedwig's voice asked startling Casey a bit.   
"Aren't you supposed to be hiding Hedwig?" She asked recovering from her, heart attack.   
"I got bored, hey where is the nice detective lady, I wanted to be her friend etcetera?" Hedwig asked   
"We had to leave her behind, Hedwig, she got hurt really bad" Casey explained.   
"She's gonna be okay right?" Hedwig asked with a worried voice.   
"I wish I knew the answer to that" Casey muttered.   
Hedwig looked at her as they stood there in an awkward silence.   
"Aww, I gotta go now, Mr Dennis wants the light now" Hedwig moaned.   
"That's okay Hedwig, I'll see you later yeah" Casey smiled   
"Okay, yeah sure, maybe we can play the new games, I found in the room I claimed"   
"Yeah sounds great Hedwig, I'll see you later" Casey said impatiently, as much as she liked Hedwig, she wanted to see Dennis again so they could have a proper talk, hopefully without any interruptions this time.   
"Okay bye Casey" Hedwig said before giving the light to Dennis.   
As Dennis, ran upstairs to grab some of his clothes he managed to pack before the ambush Casey stared at the picture one more time before settling on the sofa. Dennis came back inside, neatly dressed and joined her on the sofa.   
Casey leaned into him as he wrapped his arms around her, they stayed like that for a long time before Dennis broke the silence.   
"Your worried about Emma aren't you?"   
Casey nodded before answering "I just feel guilty about leaving her there, I mean she risked everything to save us and I couldn't return the favour"  
"It's not your fault Casey, Emma knew the risks and yet she still put us before herself, I'm sure you'll find a way to help her but right now she needs you safe" Dennis comforted her "besides it's hard to rescue someone if your sedated" he grinned as Casey playfully punched his shoulder, pretending to be hurt by his comment, before he brought her in for a kiss.  
Casey forgot about everything that was bothering her when he did, putting her hands behind his neck as he put his hand in he hair to deepen the kiss. Dennis started unbuttoning his shirt, when Casey put her hands over his, breaking the kiss. He looked up at her, sensing he'd done something wrong.   
"What is it?" Dennis whispered   
"Nothing, I just think we could do this somewhere more comfortable" Casey answered in a soft tone. Dennis heaved a heavy breath as her request, in that voice, made him hard very quickly.   
"Well, my room is just upstairs to the left, oh and Uhh it has a huge bed" Dennis replied nervously but excited at the same time.   
Casey smiled before saying "Oh yeah, I think that'll do"   
Dennis smiled back before lifting her up and carrying her to his room.


	28. Nightmare

Dennis laid Casey down on the bed, tearing his shirt off before joining her on the bed. Casey brought him down and kissed him passionately, as Dennis started lifting her shirt up. Casey lifted it over her head and Dennis started to kiss down her neck as he unclasped her bra, and slowly made his way to her breasts, he started to lick the nipples making them hard before sucking on them and nipping them encouraging Casey to hiss as he did. He looked up to make sure she was okay before working his way down to her abdomen, kissing every scar he could find. Casey hummed in pleasure as he did this and started to unbutton her trousers as he took off his. Dennis slid hers down slowly revealing Casey's hot, wet centre.   
Dennis stared at her hungrily before parting her legs and slipping in between, kissing his way up to her. Casey could feel Dennis's hot, deep breaths touching her.  
"Dennis please, I need you" she begged, Dennis obliged and leaned in, licking her slowly, teasing small moans to erupt from her, which turned him on even more.   
He sucked on her clit, rubbing his tongue along it , Casey groaned loudly as he did it "uhhh Dennis" she whispered, clutching the bed sheets to anchor herself. He carried on licking and sucking until it brought Casey to a climax, she let out a loud groan as she came and Dennis started lapping it up, encouraging little aftershocks to course through her trembling body.  
Dennis came back up to her and kissed her deeply, Casey smiled when they broke away and looked up at Dennis who was staring at her wildly, through lust filled eyes.   
"You okay?" He muttered slightly breathless. It still amused Casey how concerned he was about her despite the fact that she completely trusted him.  
"Yeah" she whispered, cupping his cheek. Dennis nodded before kissing her again.   
Casey dragged him towards her, feeling his heat radiate off him, enveloping her in a protective warmth. She trailed her hands over his back and than his strong firm abdomen, avoiding his still sore knife wound.  
"Dennis, please I need you inside me" she pleaded, Dennis nodded before sliding into her with a relieved sigh. They both stayed there for a moment, getting used to this,still relatively new, feeling before Dennis started thrusting into her, breathing heavily into her shoulder as they both started moaning loudly.   
They stayed this way for a long time, Dennis would only do something different if Casey asked and Casey moved to meet him at every thrust until they both climaxed together.   
After coming down from their highs Dennis rolled onto the soft, silken blankets on the bed, holding Casey close as they both layed together, starting to catch their breath, they held each other close, until they fell asleep.

Later that night Casey was woken up by Dennis who was fidgeting and muttering in his sleep. His skin was sweaty and his breathing was coming out rapidly, like he was having a panic attack. Casey went to wake him up but he flinched away, screaming in pain and curling up in a ball.   
"No,no please" Dennis whimpered, in a scared tone,  
Casey shook his shoulder   
"Dennis?" Casey asked trying to wake him up and save him from the nightmare he seemed to be stuck in.   
"Dennis, wake up" Casey yelled shaking his shoulders rapidly.   
Dennis woke up screaming, sitting bolt upright, breathing uncontrollably,tears were starting to fall down his face.   
"Hey, it's okay, your safe, your with me" Casey comforted him, shushing him and stroking his hair as she held him,his chest heaving as he cried.   
Dennis, slowly started to calm down and turned to face Casey,she was still holding him close to comfort him. Dennis kissed her passionately before saying "I'm sorry, I woke you up" he whispered apologetically.   
"It's alright, are you okay?" She asked patiently.   
Dennis stroked the top of his head "Yeah, it's just.... sometimes I, I get nightmares" he explained feeling embarrassed.   
"What about?"   
"Kevin's mother usually, I know it's still in the past but it still haunts me"   
"It's okay, I still have nightmares, about my uncle, it's not something you can put to rest easily" Casey comforted him   
" I know, but I just feel so..."  
"Helpless, like you can't control it" Casey finished, Dennis nodded looking down.   
"Hey, you don't have to face this alone, I'm here for you if you need me" she whispered cupping his cheek, he nodded again before kissing her again   
"I love you" he whispered   
"I love you too, do you want to lie back down and get some sleep?" Casey asked. Dennis nodded before slowly laying back on the bed his head resting in the crook of her neck as she stroked his hair.  
Dennis slowly drifted back to sleep, holding Casey close and breathing steadily. Casey stayed up a bit longer resting her head on his as she watched him sleep. The rise and fall of his chest, comforting her and his body heat making her feel safe.  
Casey worried about him, that episode had been scary to say the least, and seemed to happen regularly, Casey couldn't forget the sight of the usually strong and stoic man she knew Dennis as, whimpering and acting seemingly terrified, however this also gave her more cause to hate, Kevin's mother even more. Now, not only did she torture him physically every day from the age of three years old, but she now haunted him in his dreams. Casey knew how that felt, she had lived with it long enough to know, but it was different seeing that same terror and panic in the face of another human being , especially one like Dennis, Casey was beginning to realise how strong this incredible man was, but also how vulnerable he felt.   
She promised she would help him get through this, no matter what, he had been on his own for way too long and now was the time for that to change.   
Casey kissed him goodnight before she settled down and fell asleep, listening to the beating of his heart.


	29. Losing control

Dennis woke up the next morning, still holding Casey close, she was still fast asleep. Dennis admired her, he still couldn't believe that she was here with him.   
He never let himself think that anyone would want him, a combination of his foul habits, ugly scars and his inability to actually communicate with anyone , on top of the fact that he had DID made him adamant that he would never find anyone who would ever love him. But as impossible as it seemed, he had found that person.   
Dennis thought back to last night with a shiver remembering the nightmare that had tortured him last night, he hadn't had one for a while, turned out his mind was just biding it's time before trapping him inside one of his worse memories.   
Dennis had gotten Kevin into trouble at school when he had gotten into a fight with one of the bullies there after he claimed Kevin was hitting on his girlfriend, Kevin got a nasty blow to the face before giving the light to Dennis, he started fighting back but got a bit too carried away. The result ended up with said bully ending up in hospital with a broken jaw, a broken arm, bruised ribs and four knocked out teeth, along with two of his mates. Kevin ended up with a weeks worth of detention, it would have been more but Barry managed to sweet talk the teacher, they promised that they would make sure his mum never found out.   
However when they got home, the school had called her and told her everything, she was furious, as well as drunk, which added fuel to the flames. Dennis took the light just in time as a whiskey bottle came flying towards them and hit his back, she grabbed him and threw him across the room, grabbing a sharp hanger and driving it into his skin, he didn't usually scream during her torture, but this was the first time she used a hanger to cause him pain and it hurt. By the time she was finished Dennis was a bleeding, crying mess on the floor, before he was dragged by his hair, when he had longer hair, and thrown into a wall in his room as his mother, slammed the door behind her.   
The others tried to console him, but he was just frozen in pain and fear, the others were shocked especially Kevin, they had never seen Dennis in such a state. It wasn't just what his mother had done but it was the fact that Dennis had caused it to happen.  
He knew that he would have got beaten regardless of what had happened at school, but his actions meant that it was ten times as bad.  
Dennis shook his head trying to shake away the memory instead of slipping into it.  
His nightmare had completely left him on edge, luckily though, Casey had been there to bring him back to the present and away from that dark past. He didn't like feeling weak in front of people, he was supposed to be stronger than that, but with Casey he felt more comfortable opening up.   
She didn't judge him, she didn't even care that he started crying she just held him and reassured him. He really didn't deserve her but she still chose to stay with him, and for that he was extremely grateful.   
He was pulled out of his thoughts when Casey stirred in his arms,he turned to face her and saw her heavy eyes staring up at him.   
He smiled "hey" he greeted. Casey stretched before replying   
"Hi" she whispered coming up to kiss him. Dennis returned it but was still caught up with his own thoughts to focus on it fully, Casey sensed this and pulled away, looking him in the eyes.   
"What's wrong?" She asked   
"Nothing just, thinking about some things" Dennis replied   
"Do you want to talk about the stuff going on in your head?"   
Dennis shook his head "not now, I, I need some time, to figure things out alone first" he decided.   
Casey didn't look convinced but didn't push it, before she could say or think more on it Dennis distracted her with another kiss, pushing her down on the bed as they made out for a while.   
Dennis worshipped her, making her feel like a goddess , he sucked and nipped the skin, Casey made small moans, as he rose up to her neck however, he bit down hard, making Casey yell out in pain   
"Dennis, stop, it's too much" Casey panicked, but Dennis just ignored her and carried on pushing his whole weight onto her. Casey started to panic then.  
"Dennis, please, I can't" Casey spoke a bit more fiercely and pushed his shoulders.   
To her shock though, it wasn't Dennis's features she was met with, she realised with a shock that she was staring up at The Beast.   
"Hmm, you taste good, I can see why Dennis likes you so much" he growled, his black eyes staring down at her with an insane grin. Casey shivered at his voice as she quickly scrambled away from him.   
"What are you doing here?" She stammered.  
The Beast chuckled before saying "Despite, what Dennis might think I am the one in charge"   
Casey breathed shakily, frozen in fear, unable to speak.   
"You don't need to fear me, you are pure, you are more evolved so no harm will come to you, your friend the detective made it very clear that you needed protecting, but remember that we still have a mission of our own to complete and we will not tolerate any distractions" The Beast warned.  
Casey nodded before asking "What is your mission?"   
"All in good time, pure one, just remember what I said" The Beast warned before giving the light to Dennis again.   
Dennis gasped as he felt The Beast's presence retreat back to the train yard he resided in.  
He stared at Casey, who was still looking scared at his surprise visit, Dennis slowly moved towards her.  
"Are you alright?" Dennis asked, Casey nodded her head slowly before asking   
"What happened?"   
Dennis sighed, saddened that she still felt on edge "I don't know, he just took over, I'm sorry, if I scared you" Dennis hung his head in shame. Casey lifted his face up to face him   
"It's fine Dennis, I'm fine, I know you won't hurt me" Casey comforted him   
"I don't wanna risk it" Dennis breathed   
"Dennis, I know what I signed up for and I don't care, I love you and that's all that matters to me" Casey replied.   
Dennis nodded before she kissed his forehead "Let's go get something to eat, take our minds off of it" she suggested.   
"Okay sounds good" Dennis smiled "Casey...thank you"   
"For what?"   
"Being here for me, it means a lot" Dennis whispered.   
"My pleasure, Dennis" Casey answered.   
They got changed and headed downstairs.


	30. Imprisoned

Emma's head swung violently to the left as she received yet another blow to the face, it had been three days since she was dragged into this shit hole of a cell and Stevens seemed intent on making sure she suffered for the entirety of her time here.  
That meant it had been three days of complete torture for her, each day had been the same, Stevens would ask where any of her friends were and she would reply with a cryptic answer or no answer at all which would be met with some form of torture.   
Emma had no idea where she was, since she had passed out on the way up here, due to blood loss. They patched up her shoulder, but it ached like hell, which wasn't improving her mood.   
"I don't know why your trying to keep them safe Emma, weren't you trying to arrest him too?" Stevens smirked as he pulled her up and hit her in the ribs, knocking the breath out of her.  
Emma was used to this, interrogations were something she'd been in before as an agent but Stevens made it worse because he knew what buttons to push.   
Laura was still a sore subject for Emma, she still had trouble coming to terms that she was dead, the problem was Stevens knew that and was using it against her.   
"Because I won't let you kill him" Emma muttered, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth.   
"What's gotten into you, when did you get so soft huh, was it Laura, did she do this to you?" He mocked   
"She made me better Stevens, I wouldn't expect someone like you to understand" Emma growled.   
Stevens walked away chuckling like a lunatic, before picking unsheathing a wicked serrated steel knife.   
"You're absolutely right, you have changed, but not for the best, if you were still that rational, following orders type of person you were before you would be on my side, instead you waste your time defending some stupid psychopath and suffering in the process"  
"I've never been on your side Stevens, you're a sick, sadistic son of a bitch and I'll never take your side" Emma retaliated.   
"Ha,ha, now that is something I can believe and if there is one thing I can say you haven't lost its your attitude" he remarked, before plunging the knife into her already wounded shoulder.   
Emma screamed until her throat was raw as Stevens turned the knife slowly before pulling it out, Emma leaned forward, groaning loudly, feeling the blood blossoming on her shirt making it sticky.  
"Now, that I have your attention, do you think you can tell me where your friends are now" Stevens said calmly twirling the bloody knife in his hand "we already lost Laura, to a knife Emma, I would find it funny if you died the same way" he taunted   
Emma lashed out at him but he easily outmanoeuvred her and held her at knife point.   
"I'll say one thing about the new you, your impulsive, reckless and that makes you easy to beat" he whispered, as he dug the knife deeper into her skin, to stop her from struggling. "Tell me are they really worth your life Emma, I mean I know you haven't got much of one left but I need you to consider if this is really what you want?"  
Emma was breathing heavily as she felt the knife slowly piercing the skin.  
Stevens dragged it slowly down her torso, slicing her shirt as he went, savouring the pain he was causing Emma before he pushed her into a wall and leaving her a bloody mess on the floor, he heard her muffled voice whisper something, so he knelt and rolled her over.   
"What did you say Emma?" Stevens asked in a calm voice, as Emma clutched her cut.  
"You win okay, I'll tell you where they are, I can't take this anymore" Emma said in a broken voice.   
"I knew you would come to your senses eventually, now where are they?" Stevens asked triumph written over his very punch able face. Emma gestured to him to come closer to whisper the location to him, she took a shaky breath before saying   
"Go fuck yourself, Stevens" in a raspy voice, before smashing her head in to his face, making him fall and causing his nose to break.   
Emma laughed hysterically before saying   
"Did you really think I was going to tell you where they are?, I already told you my lips are sealed Stevens" Emma watched as he clutched his nose as blood started gushing out.  
Unfortunately, he recovered quickly and managed to grab her neck and pin her to the wall.   
"You are a pathetic, stupid little shit Emma" he growled tightening his grip around her neck. Emma struggled as his grip started to become unbearable. She started to have flashbacks to the asylum and Emma hoped that this wouldn't become a recurring thing, the only problem was this time no one was going to take over and persuade him to let go.  
As Emma was about to pass out, Stevens let go to reach for his phone that had gone off in his pocket.   
Emma sunk onto the floor, coughing loudly as she massaged her throat.   
"You're lucky I've got to take this call, I'll leave you for now and you can think about how you want this to carry on when I get back" Stevens growled, before opening up the door to her cell and walking out, talking to his phone.   
Emma moaned and tried to get up, she stumbled a few times but eventually managed to get to the bed on the opposite side of the cell, she looked in the mirror and had to look away, she was slowly getting more and more cut up and she really didn't know how much longer she could keep it up. Hopefully the medics would come in soon to do what they could to fix her, but until then she would have to do her best to ignore the pain. Emma settled down on the bed and tried to get as much rest before Stevens came back, her thoughts drifted to Laura and more pleasant memories before she fell asleep.


	31. Proposition

Dennis and Casey had gone downstairs and had prepared a small meal in the kitchen. It had been a few weeks since Casey's unexpected encounter with The Beast and Casey knew that Dennis still felt guilty about losing control of the light to him. It had been scary, but she didn't blame him for it, she would never know what it was like having twenty three other people talking in your head or trying to take control from you, but she could imagine that it couldn't be easy.  
Their silence had been interrupted by a loud knock on the door. They both looked at each other as someone knocked on the door again.   
"Who could that be?" Dennis asked suspiciously.   
"I don't know" Casey replied in a similar tone, she stood up and went to the door.  
"Casey, what are you doing, it could be a trap" Dennis whispered protectively, grabbing her arm to stop her.  
"It might not be" she shrugged, pulling her arm out of his grip.   
"What happens if it is?" He asked frantically, his eyes full of panic.   
"We'll deal with that when we get to it" Casey suggested, Dennis ran his hand over his head , sighing loudly.   
"Okay fine, but be careful, I don't want anything to happen to you too" Dennis replied.   
Casey nodded, giving him a small smile before going to answer the door. She turned the handle slowly, taking a deep breath before swinging the door open. Casey was met with a tired looking David Dunn.   
"Casey, thank God your here, I was beginning to think Stevens got you too" David answered relief in his voice.   
"Where have you been David?" Casey asked   
"Emma told me to go incognito before she was taken, I've been laying low and trying to avoid Stevens attention, however I was able to get information about Emma, but it isn't good" David replied looking defeated.   
"Why don't you come inside, we can talk about this better inside" Casey offered, opening the door fully and letting him in.

David walked inside and his and Dennis's eyes met, Casey saw both of them tense up and decided to intervene before something happened.

"David this is Dennis, I know what your thinking but he's with us now" Casey said, hoping David would believe her.

David's eyes looked Dennis up and down, like he was appraising him before saying 

"Nice to meet you Dennis, I'm David Dunn" 

"Hey uh nice to meet you Mr Dunn" Dennis said in a low voice, Casey could see he was uncomfortable talking to David so she stepped into save him.

"You said you had news about Emma, what is it?" Casey asked

David breathed heavily "We should probably sit down for this" he explained before walking into the living room.

Casey and Dennis both shared a look of worry, this couldn't be good, before following him and sitting next to him on the sofa. David rubbed the sleep out of his eyes before turning to face them both.

"I found out where they took her after they ambushed you" David said gruffly

"Well that's good isn't it?" Casey asked

"It would be if it was anywhere else" he replied, sighing, before meeting Casey's worried eyes, he took a deep breath before saying "she's in a high security prison for high risk prisoners"

"So what's wrong with that?" Casey asked.

"I have a friend who works there as security, he tells me that Stevens has taken over particularly the interrogation, he said he's gotten permission from some other corrupt high ranking agent to use any means he can to get them to confess to a crime, or to give up information and apparently his methods are cruel and painful and many of them break before long"

Casey started tearing up and sniffled a bit, Dennis wrapped his arms around her rubbing her shoulders in a comforting motion. 

"Is there a way to get her out of there?" Dennis asked

"It's built like Fort Knox, not even you guys could get in there and I doubt Stevens will have slacked on security, in fact he's probably doubled it since the asylum" David said hopelessly.

"There has to be another way, David she's been in there for weeks, she saved our lives we can't just leave her in there"Casey sobbed, as Dennis held her closer.

"I know you want to save her but we need to make sure we don't take any unnecessary risks, Emma wanted you safe, lets keep it that way" David said. 

They sat there in silence, until Casey's phone went off. She looked at the number, it was for a video call but she didn't recognize it. 

"Who is it?" David asked, eyebrows raised.

"I don't know, it's an unknown number, it's for a video call" Casey said as the phone was still ringing, whoever it was clearly wanted her to answer.

"Answer it" David said 

"Why?" Casey questioned

"Because I get the feeling, it's got something to do with Emma" David replied.

This gave Casey enough incentive to accept the call. 

It connected within seconds and the picture came through and in all his hateful glory stood the one and only, Eric Stevens, everyone in the room tensed up as he grinned maniacally though the camera.

"Good evening ladies, thank you for accepting the call" he spoke in a game show sort of voice.

"Stevens? what do you want?" Casey growled

"Hello Miss Cooke, I see you haven't lost your fiery attitude" Stevens mocked

"What do you want?" she asked in a strained voice, through gritted teeth.

"As much as I'd like to talk to you Casey, I'm actually looking for your partner Mister Crumb, is he around, or is he off eating more innocent girls again" he taunted.

Casey glanced briefly at Dennis, who had gone paper white pale and looked like he was going to be sick. Casey was about to say something back to Stevens but Dennis jumped in before she had a chance. 

"I'm right here what do you want?" Dennis asked eyes narrowed and his signature stern expression returning in full force.

"I need to talk to you privately, I won't say anything more until your alone" Stevens explained, his venom green eyes staring into Dennis's, now ice cold blue eyes. Dennis nodded, before looking at Casey and David, gesturing at them to leave. 

"No, I'm not leaving"Casey argued, shaking her head.

"Casey, it's alright I think I can handle this myself" Dennis reassured her, looking at David for help.

David squeezed her shoulder comfortingly "Come on Casey, it'll only be for a few minutes, we can wait that long" he reasoned.

"No, not until I know what you've done with Emma" she blurted out

"Ahhh I see you need better incentive, okay I can arrange that" he replied calmly as he stepped out of the way of the camera to reveal a very beaten and extremely worn out looking Emma tied down to a chair looking at the camera.

Casey gasped in horror, as a hand went up to cover her mouth "Emma?" she whispered not believing the state she was in.

"Right now that I have your attention Miss Cooke, you have ten seconds to leave the room before I put a bullet through Emma's skull" Stevens threatened, cocking his pistol and aiming it at Emma and beginning to count.

"Okay, okay Stevens we're leaving" David yelled as him and Casey got up to leave.

"What an incredibly wise decision" Stevens laughed.

Dennis turned to give Casey a reassuring smile before, she shut the door, he faced Stevens then.

"Right, you got me alone now, what is it that you want?" Dennis asked

"I have a proposition for you Mister Crumb, as you can see Emma has been quite uncooperative as of late, I was hoping you could be a bit more cooperative than her" Stevens explained.

"Don't give him anything, Dennis" Emma piped up, before a guard hit her abdomen with a plastic baton, making Emma lurch forward urging.

"What did you have in mind?" Dennis asked trying not to crush the phone in his hands as he witnessed this.

"Obviously, Emma isn't really the one I'm here to arrest, I'm here for you Mister Dennis, of course you've all been a great big pain in my ass, but your the one I really need to take down" 

"Good luck with that because your never gonna catch us" Dennis replied cockily.

"Oh no, no no, I'm not here to catch you, no, look how well that went last time" Stevens chuckled at Dennis's clueless expression "No I'm gonna make you turn yourself in" Stevens revealed.

"How?" Dennis asked.

"A trade, meet me at the entrance to the old railway station, you turn yourself in and Emma walks free, if you don't show up I'll start by killing Emma here, and then I'll come for your little girlfriend, see how much she can take before she finally snaps" he taunted Dennis, enjoying the horror that was seeping into Dennis's features.

"I'll let you sleep on it, hell I'll be generous, you have a week to make an appearance down there, if you don't, you can say goodbye to Emma" Stevens laughed "Oh and by the way, if you tell anyone, about what we've discussed, or try to outsmart me in any way, I'll make sure Casey dies more painfully, the choice is your's Mister Dennis, now goodnight" he sneered 

before the camera cut out though Emma managed to gt in one last thing

"Don't do it Dennis, leave me here" she yelled before they knocked her over the head with the baton and the call was ended. 

Dennis sat there not knowing what to do, Stevens had them all in a trap, where at least one of them could die. He threw the phone on the table before holding his head in his hands. There was only one thing he could do to protect those he cared about, he knew Casey would hate him for this but her life came first, but that meant he would have to turn himself in.


	32. Saying goodbye

Dennis sat next to Casey on a chair near the bed, his hands linked together as he rested his chin on them, she was fast asleep. It had been hours since his private conversation with Stevens and he'd made the decision to turn himself in, Casey, of course knew nothing about it, she'd pleaded with him to tell her but Dennis had shut her down quickly telling her not to worry about it. She wasn't happy about it but eventually she let it go.

Dennis stared down at her and would never stop getting bored of watching her sleep. She looked more at ease and all the worry and stress she carried was gone, replaced with a relaxed expression, with a small smile on her face. Dennis had made sure that their possible last night together had been as good as it could be given the circumstances, he'd worshipped her and had given her everything she wanted, when they had finished they were both exhausted but happy, they had wrapped their arms around each other and Casey was asleep before long, which is when Dennis had slipped out of the bed and got ready to face Stevens.

Dennis couldn't sleep anyway, his brain was too wired for sleep as he thought about the possibility of what could happen after he'd turn himself in, he knew he was taking a big risk but he didn't care. He didn't know Stevens well but he could tell he was someone who would do anything to get rid of him.

The others had tried to convince him not to do this and they had had lengthy conversations on everything wrong with his plan, but Dennis couldn't bring himself to care. The Beast in particular wasn't happy about his plan but he had promised to keep Casey safe so he reluctantly gave in.

Dennis looked at his watch and knew that he had to get going but a part of him just wanted to be with Casey, he stroked her hair before leaning down and kissing her on the forehead before slowly getting up and walking to the door, he turned around one last time before he left their room for what could be the last time.

He was just putting his shoes on when he heard footsteps come from behind him, he turned to see David Dunn studying him.

"Where are you going at this time of night?" he asked

"I'm uh just going for a walk" Dennis lied, he didn't fully trust David yet but judging by the look on his face he wasn't fooled

"Your turning yourself in aren't you?" he asked in disbelief, Dennis nodded to confirm and David shook his head with a shocked expression "Does Casey know?"

Every word of that felt like a punch in the gut and Dennis had to take a few deep breaths to keep himself calm before answering.

"No, she would have tried to stop me otherwise, which would make this ten times harder than it already is" he explained and his voice cracked. David nodded in understanding, but still looked puzzled.

"Why are you doing this?"

"To keep her safe, she shouldn't have to keep living with this fear every day, it also gives us a way to free Emma"

"What?" David asked eyebrows raised

"It was part of the deal, if I turn myself in Emma walks free" Dennis explained.

David considered this before saying "If you get Emma out, I promise we will find a way to free you too" he promised.

"Don't, the best thing you can do for me right now is look after her, if I know she's got you and Emma to look out for her then I can sleep a little easier knowing that she's safe" Dennis replied.

"Wow you really do love her don't you?"

"More than anything, but she deserves better than what I can give her" Dennis said solemnly bowing his head.

"You know I think she'd disagree with that" David said with a chuckle, Dennis gave a small smile at that.

"I think your probably right" he said "Goodbye Mr Dunn it was nice to meet you" he said extending his hand which David took shaking it firmly, before letting go suddenly.

"You alright?" Dennis asked, looking at David concerned.

"Yeah I'm fine, that was weird" David exclaimed

"What was it?" Dennis asked

"Uh nothing, I'll see you around Dennis" David stammered before turning away and leaving the room.

Dennis watched him leave through narrowed eyes, he was hiding something from him but right now wasn't the time to be dealing with something like that, he turned around and walked to the front door, sighing softly as he began his lonely walk to the location Stevens would be waiting for him.

He let The Beast take the light since he was the fastest and they were running out of time.

"I hope this girl is worth it Dennis" The Beast growled.

"Trust me Casey is worth it" Dennis answered

"I wasn't talking about her" The Beast snarled

"The Detective?, of course she is she saved our lives countless times, plus she cares about Casey, I think she's worth saving" Dennis responded as The Beast skidded to a halt a short distance away from the old railway station they were told to meet Stevens.

"We shall see" The Beast responded, before giving Dennis the light.

Dennis slowly walked the final steps of his freedom before hearing shouting in the distance, Dennis took a deep breath before walking in the direction of those voices.

"Okay ladies, place your bets, who thinks, Emma will die today?" Stevens yelled, cheering went up from some of the crowd "Okay and who thinks Mister Crumb will come through?" he asked again followed by more cheering from the crowd .  
the bastards were betting on whether he would show up and that made Dennis mad very quickly.   
Dennis slipped out of his hiding place and made his way towards them.   
"Stevens" Dennis shouted.   
The crowd fell silent as they watched Dennis slowly walk towards them. Stevens recovered first and smiled with a greed in his eyes.   
"Well, well, well, look who showed up boys" Stevens smirked .  
The doors locked behind him, leaving Dennis trapped inside with these lunatics.


	33. Price to pay

Dennis took stock of the situation, he had about seven guards all armed and ready to shoot if he made a bad move, standing between him and Emma who was barely conscious, unsurprisingly considering the wounds that were visible.

Emma looked like a walking corpse, she had deep red cuts everywhere and anywhere else had large black and blue bruises, she looked like she'd given up, that spark of light that was there when they had first seen her at the asylum was gone replaced with a hollow, empty sadness.

"She's snapped" The Beast whispered in his head

"Don't be too certain, she may surprise us yet" Patricia whispered back

Dennis blocked out the conversation going on in his head in order to focus, Stevens was the priority. He started walking slowly over to him his hands held up in surrender, as Stevens slowly marched up to face him.

"I'm here now Stevens, let Emma go" Dennis said as confidently as he could

"Aww why should I?, we've been having so much fun" Stevens growled, grabbing Emma's hair and throwing her violently onto the floor. Emma didn't even make an effort to stop herself falling, she just collapsed like a rag doll making a small groaning sound in the process. Dennis's eyes followed her as she fell and it gave him a new spark of rage, his eyes snapped back up to face Stevens again.

"It was part of the deal, I show up you let her go, I've upheld my part of the deal now you keep to yours" Dennis whispered in a cold voice.

"Well your right you definitely have lived up to expectations Mister Crumb, you know for someone who goes around kidnapping girls and eating them your actually extremely soft" Stevens taunted "But my dilemma is now that I have both of you, should I let one of you go or do I take you both in? it's a tricky one wouldn't you agree?" Stevens pondered.

"We had a deal" Dennis growled

"Yes but you see plans change" Stevens replied

Dennis grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him closer so that his face was only inches from his, he heard men shouting and the sound of guns be made ready to fire and aimed at him. Stevens threw a hand up in the air, turning to face his men.

"Hold your fire men, hold your fire" he ordered, making sure all the weapons were lowered before turning back to Dennis "We really don't need to settle matters like this" Stevens mocked.

"Listen here you little shit, let her go right now or I can promise you, you will see a side to me that you really won't want to, you got what you wanted now let her go" Dennis threatened.

"Was that supposed to be a threat?" Stevens grinned clearly unimpressed, Dennis let out a low chuckle as he shook his head before replying

"No that's a promise" 

Stevens hummed before turning to face Emma "Alright Emma, your free to go now, after of course your friend puts me down of course" Stevens yelled. 

Dennis, slightly taken aback by how easy that was put Stevens down slowly still suspecting a trap, before letting go of him, granting him access to walk away. Emma got on her feet unsteadily, before staggering towards Dennis, on the way she walked past Stevens who put his arm out to halt her.

"You know he did the right thing, turning himself in like that, now all we gotta do is make sure he stays there" Stevens whispered, before revealing a switchblade and stabbing it through Emma's abdomen, the blade piercing through the skin as Emma screamed in pain Stevens turned her head and whispered "Tell Laura I said hello" before pushing Emma on the floor watching her bleed out.

"NOO" Dennis screamed, falling on the floor next to Emma, watching her gulp as the blood covered more of her shirt. Dennis urged a little bit before tearing off his shirt and applying pressure to the wound.

"Did you really think I'm stupid enough to let either of you walk free?, no you were just gonna carry on until you were both free, here I had an opportunity to get rid of both of you permanently" Stevens said kicking Dennis away from her, luckily Emma had taken over and was holding the shirt close to her injury. Dennis's breathing became heavy as he tried to crawl back to Emma, before he was kicked in the ribs and then lifted back up so he was kneeling on the floor.

"Well boys, what are you waiting for? I'm not paying you to stand around and do nothing, someone kill this son of a bitch so we can all go home" Stevens yelled as he gestured to the closest person on his team to take the shot, before walking away.

The guard walked up to Dennis pulling a pistol out of his holster, putting it to his head. Suddenly the gun was ripped away from his hand before he had time to shoot and The Beast sprang up and tackled him to the ground before snapping his neck. Breathing heavily he lets out a primal roar before launching himself at the other guards.

"Open fire" Stevens yells before running and taking cover as guns start firing.

The guards all spread out as The Beast stalked them like a lion would with its prey, waiting for a weak link in the group to present itself. He could hear their hearts beating frantically, their panicked breaths and the fear spreading through the air, the thrill of the hunt. One by one he located each guard and killed them all, each death more grisly than the last, as he tore his way through flesh, broke bones and caused complete carnage.

Slowly but surely the gunshots all stopped, signalling the deaths of each guard, until Stevens was the last one standing. He was hiding in between two old wooden crates, sweat dripping down his face as he cocked his pistol for this last showdown between him and this beast. The crate next to him shattered as The Beasts hand grabbed him by the throat and threw him on the floor, his face scraped the concrete floor ripping a layer of skin off.

Stevens groaned before he lifted himself back up, staring at The Beast who was staring at him with a deep, uncontrollable rage, breathing heavily making his chest heave, the veins a deep shade of purple as the blood went coursing around his body and the blood of his men smeared all over his hands and face. 

"So, this is the side of you, you warned me about huh, impressive" Stevens said wiping the blood out of the corner of his mouth "Shame we could have been great allies, if Emma hadn't got into your head" 

"I'll never be on the same side as an impure like you" The Beast growled

Stevens bowed his head chuckling "You criminals....your all the same, you all think your so righteous, that what your doing is best, so pathetic" he mocked as he stretched "Alright lets get this over with he said, shooting The Beast in the shoulder.

The Beast looked down at the bullet unimpressed before charging towards Stevens who shot him again and again each one only slowing The Beast down and making him angrier, he tackled Stevens to the ground, kneeling over him as his knee pressed hard on his ribs making a satisfying crack as they broke and punched his face, each one getting harder as he went, grabbing his shirt and knocking him down again and again, fuelled by the grunts that came out of Steven's mouth, his jaw was practically hanging off when The Beast finally finished and his face was more blood than skin.

He was about to deliver a killing blow when he heard Emma coughing as she succumbed to her injury, her heartbeat slowing down.

"Looks like you are running out of time to save your friend" Stevens gurgled, mouth full of blood.

The Beast growled before punching him hard enough to knock him out, he would deal with him later. He strides over to Emma giving Dennis the light. As he examined the state she was in the more concerning it got, her breaths were becoming more laboured and she had lost a lot of blood.

"Shit" Dennis muttered, Emma laughed at that

"That bad huh" She managed to joke

"How can you possibly make a joke like that right now?" Dennis asked smiling, as he applied more pressure to his soaked through shirt.

"Not a clue" she smiled weakly "It's good to see you too" She said before groaning in pain.

"Okay we need to get you to a hospital" Dennis said, tying the shirt around to secure it.

"My phone, it's in Stevens pocket, you call it on there they'll get to us quicker" Emma explained weakly. Dennis nodded and managed to retrieve the phone and make he call.

Once he had made sure an ambulance was on it's way he knelt down next to Emma, who looked up at him through tearful eyes.

"Have you done it?" she asked

"Yeah they're on their way" Dennis replied 

"Good you need to be gone by the time they get here" she gasped, Dennis shook his head.

"No I'm not going anywhere" he replied

"They'll arrest you Dennis, what about Casey?, she needs you" Emma tried to reason.

"I can't let her live this life anymore, she should be able to live without the fear of a manhunt always on the horizon, besides I'm tired of running" Dennis responded.

"You'd give up your freedom... for her?" Emma asked

"I love her" was Dennis's answer

"Huh, she's lucky to have you Dennis, look after her when I'm.... " Emma said before she lost consciousness, her head going slack as it lulled back.

"No, No, No, Emma come on stay with me, stay with me please" Dennis begged, shaking her shoulders trying to wake her up as her arms fell limply by her side "Casey needs you too" He whispered, tears fell down his face as he cried silently, as he waited for the paramedics to get here quickly and for a miracle to save Emma's life.


	34. Familiar Face

Casey and David had rushed up to the hospital after hearing what had happened to Emma, Dennis was waiting for them and Casey nearly knocked him over as she ran over to hug him, tears soaking his fresh shirt as he held her tight, stroking her hair and shushing her as he rested his head on hers.

"Are you okay?" Casey asked breaking away slightly to look up at him, he had a haunted look in his blue eyes and his skin looked raw from where Casey assumed he had cleaned off the blood.

"I'm fine" Dennis murmured his eyes met David's "They say she's still in surgery, they won't let us see her, that's all I know, they said we could wait out here" he explained.

"How was she?" David asked in a soft tone, Dennis shook his head.

"Not good...we nearly lost her on the way here but she's still going but barely"

David sighed as he collapsed into a chair 

"If there's one thing I know about Emma it's that she's a fighter"

"You think she'll make it out of this alive?" Casey asked excitedly

"Maybe and if not she'll give it a damn good try" David replied.

They waited in the same room for hours, hoping that a nurse would give them some good news. It got to midnight before Dennis convinced Casey to get some sleep, she tried to say she was fine but her eyes kept closing and her head was becoming heavy so eventually she gave in and rested her head on Dennis's shoulder before falling asleep. Dennis held her close as she slept, considering himself lucky that he had the chance to, he thought that he would never be able to have this again and although he knew that the police would have to arrest him soon, he was glad to be able to spend at least a few more precious moments with her.

David sat down next to him again handing him a coffee, which he gratefully accepted but noticed that David made sure that he wouldn't be able to touch him when he did.

"Can't sleep?" David asked

Dennis shook his head "I'll sleep when I know she's okay" Dennis replied, David nodded his head in response to that "Can I ask you something?" 

"Shoot" David said

"When you shook my hand, before I went to turn myself in you sort of freaked out and pulled away, why?"

"Ahh, I got the feeling this would come up eventually, you see the thing is I can see visions of the bad things people have either done or been through when I shook your hand those visions started bleeding through, I felt the pain you suffered the abuse you went through, but that's not why I broke away" David explained.

"Why did you?" Dennis asked curiously

"Because I had those visions before a long time ago, when I first started getting them a mother and her kid walked past me the mother knocked into me and I saw the same thing then as I saw when we shook hands, your that kid I saw all those years ago, when I first started having these visions" David replied.

Dennis had a look of shock on his face when he was told about this, he shook his head and went to wipe his eyes as the tears threatened to fall before asking "What did you see?"

"A hangar, belt and an extension chord all lined up on a table, she asked you to..." David broke before he could finish, but Dennis knew what he was going to say.

"She made me choose which one she would punish me with?" Dennis confirmed as David nodded

"I am so, so sorry I didn't help you then" David said, his voice filled with regret.

Before Dennis could say anymore a nurse came over to them with a tired and apologetic look on her face. 

"Are you here for Emma Price?" she asked quietly, David cleared his throat before answering

"Yes, what news have you got for us?"

"She's still in surgery for now but she's lost a lot of blood and her vitals are very weak, we're struggling to even find a pulse at the moment" the nurse explained.

"What do we do?" Dennis asked quietly.

"All I can say is that we're going to give her a blood transfusion and do what we can to patch her up, the only thing you guys can do is hope for the best but prepare for the worse if it comes to that" the nurse replied sympathetically as a thick cloud of grief washed over them "One thing I will ask is if she has any family would you like to call them and let them know?"

David and Dennis both looked at each other, a certain understanding passing through them, before David turned back to the nurse 

"We're her family" he declared quietly

The nurse nodded before saying "Then I'm incredibly sorry, feel free to stay here as long as you like.

"Thank you" David croaked as she nodded and walked away.

Dennis leaned his head back sighing before a group of police officers walked into the hospital led by Briggs looking for Dennis, Dennis and David both watched them approach before they spotted him. Briggs's eyes locked onto David's before they came charging towards them.

David gestured for Dennis to stay where he was saying "I'll deal with them, you stay with Casey" standing up to face them.

"What are you gonna do? they have to arrest me at some point" Dennis stated.

"I owe you after not saving you all those years ago, just let me try" David answered before walking away to talk to Briggs.

"They're not taking you away again are they?" Casey's sleepy voice muttered next to him

"Honestly I don't know what's gonna happen to any of us anymore" he replied defeated

Casey grabbed his cheek and pulled his head to look at her 

"What happened to Emma wasn't your fault" she stated 

"I so want to believe that" he laughed hollowly

"You two are more in common then you realise" Casey told him amused 

"In what way?" he asked puzzled

"If Emma was here and you were in there having surgery, she'd blame herself too" Casey remarked, Dennis gave a small smile at that, he didn't doubt that for one second.


	35. Long night

"In the sun we will find our passion" said a familiar tone

Casey's eyes snapped back open as she looked up to see someone she wasn't too pleased to see again

"In the sun we will find our purpose, hello dear it's good to see you again" Patricia's calm tone greeted Casey.

"Patricia, what are you doing here?" Casey asked, the exhaustion leaving her, being replaced with fear.

Other than The Beast, out of all the alters she had met Patricia made her the most nervous. She had an aura which made you feel uneasy, one moment she was making sandwiches for you to eat and then the next she would be making subtle threats at you if you did something wrong. Casey never really knew where she stood with Patricia, the last t time she saw her had been when The Horde managed to subdue all the alters and make Kevin sleep.

"I am just here to check on you dear, Dennis told me what happened to your friend the detective, he seemed rather shook up by it all, unsurprisingly really he can't stand the sight of blood" Patricia mused.

"If he wasn't there Emma would have died there and then, why do care anyway Patricia?" Casey responded

Patricia hummed in amusement at that "Despite what you think about me Casey I do care an awful lot about you and your friend, did you know my purpose was to care for Kevin"

Casey shook her head 

"Yes I was a replacement to that brute he had of a mother and I think I did a marvellous job of it" Patrica carried on.

"How can you even think that when you and The Beast are putting him in harms way all for some stupid mission" Casey snapped

"We are making the world a better place for him, these filthy impures know nothing of our pain or suffering and should not be allowed to live" Patricia argued

"Are those your words or The Beasts?" Casey asked

"They are our words my dear, those who will never reach their full potential will never really matter, surely being pure yourself you should see that" Patricia responded.

"I may not see eye to eye with the people who are living better lives than me, but I can never use that to justify what you are doing now" Casey spat "Now if this is all your conversation will be about, please just leave me alone" she turned away hearing Patricia breath loudly through her nose.

"Tell me Casey do you pray?" she asked

"What?" Casey asked confused by the change in conversation 

"Do you pray?" she asked again, Casey shook her head "Then I will pray hat your friend makes a full recovery for you" she nodded.

"Why?" 

"She saved our lives, I don't think we've ever had someone show that much compassion towards us before, she is someone who deserves to live wouldn't you agree?" Patricia explained, Casey nodded her head and Patricia smiled briefly before her soft features were replaced by Dennis's more stern expression.

"Dennis?" Casey reached out, he looked angry for some reason

"What did she want?" he said in a harsh tone

"She just wanted to know if I was alright, what happened?" Casey explained 

"Hedwig he just randomly gave Patricia the light without asking me first, I told them they could see you in the morning but they just never listen" Dennis ranted, resting his head n his hand "I'm sorry" he whispered.

"It's okay Dennis, I'm fine" Casey said resting her head on his shoulder

"I just don't want to scare you" Dennis whispered

"You won't don't worry" Casey reassured, kissing him on the cheek

"What did I do to deserve you?" he asked with a smile

"I believe you followed me home one evening then saved me from a group of thugs"Casey replied before chuckling, making Dennis blush but laugh as well.

"We've come a long way haven't we?" He said, linking their fingers together

"Indeed we have" Casey smiled, before he leaned in and kissed her, a slow passionate kiss that held a promise that everything would be alright in the end, they broke away resting their foreheads against each others.

"I love you, no matter what happens" Dennis whispered to her, breathing heavily and holding her head in his hands.

"I love you too" Casey answered back, placing her hands over the top of his and smiling up at him.Casey chuckled a little bit and Dennis looked at her confused

"What is it?" he asked

"I'm just wondering what Emma would say if she saw us now" Casey said, causing Dennis to grin

"She'd probably yell at us to get a room" he chuckled before kissing her again "We should probably get some more sleep whilst we have a chance, don't know the next time we'll be able to" Dennis said, remembering they were going to find out whether Emma would make it or not, he didn't want to say it but he was terrified about that.

Casey nodded before snuggling up to him 

"I want you to promise me something" she said, he voice heavy as sleep took over.

"Anything" Dennis replied looking down at her

"Don't ever do anything like that again, because if Emma doesn't make it your the only other person that I care about I'll have left" Casey mumbled

"Don't think like that, have faith in her" Dennis whispered softly

"But if she doesn't, I want to know that I'll always have you" Casey said

"I will always be there for you, I'm sorry I left you, I know it was stupid and I won't do it again I promise" Dennis held her closer after that and slowly she fell asleep.

Dennis stroked her hair as he slowly drifted off to sleep, this was the longest night of his life and he just wanted it to be over.


	36. Different

The next morning Dennis had been woken up by a very anxious David and Casey, a nurse had approached them and had news on the outcome of the surgery,the moment of truth had arrived.

"What's the news?" David asked once Dennis was awake fully, everyone stared at the nurse expectantly sighing as she delivered the news.

"Well it's been a rough night but... despite the fact that her heart stopped twice during the operation, she managed to pull through"

The tension in the room was replaced with relief as they heard the good news, they all had tears in their eyes as they all collapsed in their chairs.

"How is she?" David croaked as he swallowed back the lump of joy he had at the back of his throat.

"She's actually doing quite well considering the extent of some of her injuries" the nurse marvelled.

"I said she was a fighter" David mused

Casey smiled through her tear filled face

"When can we see her?"she asked

"Give her time, physically she's healing but mentally.... we don't know if the trauma could have effected her mind" the nurse advised "There is some paperwork that will need filling out before you leave, I will give it to you when you are ready" she nodded before taking her leave.

A few hours later....

Dennis and Casey stepped into the room Emma was being kept a bit anxious on what they would walk into, Emma didn't notice them straight away so she didn't have time to hide the haunted expression that was written on her face before she noticed they had entered but once she had she forced out a smile before greeting them

"Hey" she said weakly.

"Hey, how you feeling?" Casey said, rushing over to the side of the bed.

"Hmm, yeah, yeah I'm good thanks" Emma said distractedly.

Casey and Dennis shared a concerned look, this was not like Emma at all, she was usually quite enthusiastic when she spoke and she would have at least cracked one joke by now, instead this Emma was quite reserved when she spoke and didn't seem to be fully interested in the conversation, like her mind was somewhere else and the nervous energy she usually had was gone.

"You gave us quite a scare then Emma, your lucky" Dennis said

"Yeah, I guess I am" Emma replied before inhaling loudly "How have you two been?" she asked, at least that part of her hadn't changed, Emma would always ask how others were doing before she even thought about herself, Casey could almost laugh at that, here Emma was just come out of surgery after getting an injury which could have killed her and yet she was still asking how they were.

"Yeah we're fine, we were so worried about you" Casey said softly, trying not to let her emotions come through too much, but she was starting to worry about her.

"Nah you shouldn't do that I knew I would be okay" Emma smiled weakly Casey raised her eyebrows before Emma said "Okay rephrase I hoped I'd be okay"

"Are you sure your okay Emma?" Casey asked concerned

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" she replied

"Well you were tortured by Stevens for a month before he stabbed you" Dennis responded

Emma's face darkened at the mention of Stevens "I appreciate your concerns guys but believe me when I say that I'm okay" she said in a tone that sounded like a warning.

"Okay we believe you, sorry for pushing you, it's just... it has been a rough night and nobody was sure you would even make it" Casey explained, Emma nodded as her features began to soften again, as she sighed.

"I'm sorry, I know your just doing this because you care and I really do appreciate that, you guys are probably the closest thing I've had to a family, I guess I'm just tired and ready to go home" Emma explained, wiping her eyes before yawning.

"When do you reckon they'll let you go?" Dennis nodded, Emma sighed again 

"They say that they'll probably keep me here for a week or two to keep an eye on me and make sure I recover before they discharge me" Emma chuckled hollowly "It almost feels like De Ja Vu being back here, hopefully it won't become a regular occurrence, I hate hospitals" she groaned.

They both smiled at that and couldn't blame her for wanting to get out of here as soon as possible, a nurse came in then looking apologetic as she warned Dennis and Casey that they would have to leave soon so that Emma could rest up and although they understood that neither of them were anxious to leave.

"Okay just one more question before you go, where are Stevens and my brother?" Emma asked, that dark look coming over her again as she asked.

"We're not sure, they have been keeping low profile, sorry to tell you that" Dennis answered, Emma sighed leaning her head back as she tried to mask her disappointment 

"Should've known really, ah well when I get out of here, they'll be the first ones I'm going after" she promised.

"We'll think more on that later" Dennis replied "Well we better start heading off, see you later Emma, rest up and keep safe and we'll see you soon" 

They all said goodbye to each other before Casey and Dennis left the room and headed back to where David was doing the last of the paperwork for Emma. Casey sighed heavily and Dennis put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

"She'll be okay" Dennis told her confidently

"Did you see her face before she saw us she looked so broken and she wasn't acting like herself at all Dennis, what are we going to do?" Casey asked worriedly.

"The only thing we can do, which is to be there for her,the rest is up to her" bringing her in for a hug.

"I'm still worried about her though" Casey muttered into his shirt as she breathed in his scent.

"Me too but that's to be expected" Dennis answered 

"And why's that?"

"Because good people like you always worry about the people closest to them" Dennis said staring into her worried, brown eyes, cupping her cheek as he stroked away a few tears that had made their way down her face with his thumb.

"People like us, you care too" Casey said, kissing the palm of his hand "And no matter what you think you will always be a good man to me" she stated, making Dennis smile tearfully. 

"We'll get through this together" Dennis promised and for the first time in a long time both of them actually believed that they would be okay in the end.


	37. Bad habits

Four weeks after her surgery, the nurses gave Emma the all clear to go home. David had picked her up from the hospital and they were just pulling up outside the house. David helped Emma out of the car as she leaned on him before regaining her balance, despite her miraculous recovery she still had trouble getting up and had pulled out the stitches last time she had tried.

Emma looked up at her majestic home with a mixture of happiness that she wouldn't have to sleep in an uncomfortable hospital bed again but also dread, this house held to many memories and not all of them good, she would have preferred going back to her apartment in the city but apparently it had been ransacked by a group of FBI agents, hired by Stevens, who had literally destroyed the place whilst she had been away, much to her frustration.

They reached the front door and Emma pushed it open as she staggered inside, the house literally looked exactly the same as how she remembered it, nothing had changed apart from the people living in it now. She walked into the living room before she lost her balance, grabbing the glass table beside her for support, hearing something fall over as she did.

"Shit" she hissed before finding what had fallen over, to check it wasn't broken.

Emma picked up the fallen photo frame and picked it up to put it back up, she looked at the picture and immediately remembered the day it was taken and allowing a rare smile to appear on her face. David came up behind her as she set the picture back down with a sigh.

"What do you reckon she would say if she was still here?" Emma asked leaning on the table with her eyes shut to hold back the tears.

David sighed before answering "Well I can imagine her not being too pleased when she found out what happened to you, she'd probably tell you off for hours before she forgave you" David chuckled "But she'd understand why you did it"

Emma laughed hollowly before flopping onto the sofa, there was a small silence before the conversation started again

"How're you feeling?" David asked

"I'm fine" Emma replied weakly, David shook his head, joining her on the sofa, before asking in a concerned tone

"If you weren't feeling okay, mentally not physically, you would say something wouldn't you?"

"Course I would" Emma said quickly not meeting David's eyes and folding her arms

"No signs of them making an appearance then" David pushed, causing her to huff before answering again

"Nope, trust me if they did you would be the first to know" she said with a shudder, David nodded, still not entirely convinced by Emma's answers but it seemed that he wasn't going to get anything better so he dropped the subject altogether 

"Listen I've got to head home soon, Audrey's out of town tonight so I have to get back to look after my son, will you be okay on your own tonight?" David asked, Emma nodded before answering sarcastically 

"What do I need a babysitter too?" 

"No,no I'm just making sure your not going to do anything reckless when I'm gone" David clarified, sensing that Emma was getting frustrated.

"I promise I won't go around looking for trouble, if that's what your worried about" Emma answered back "Now go home, spend some time with your kid, you've earned it after all, you have't seen him in like what... three days now?, just go I'll be fine" Emma said eagerly leading him to the front door. David gave her another concerned look as she pushed him out the door

"You know you've been acting differently since you came back... are you sure your alright?" he asked again

"I swear to god the next person who asks me that will get punched, listen David I am fine now go home, enjoy your freedom, goodbye" Emma replied, slamming the door in his face, leaning on it as she waited for his heavy footsteps to fade away and for his car to drive off.

She turned around and walked away from the door walking towards her bedroom. Once she had unlocked the door, she stood in the middle taking in the familiar sight that greeted her. How long it had been since she had set foot in this room, last time she was here was the night Laura... Emma shook her head, not wanting to think about that night, some things were best left buried in the backs of your minds where they belonged. She grabbed a glass from her bedside table and filled it water to help her take the painkillers she was supposed to take, she popped them in her mouth before swallowing them and throwing herself on the bed.

She laid there for hours, trying to sleep but with her mind racing and her body aching after recovering from a months worth of torture, sleep wasn't coming as easily as she'd hoped and with no morphine to relieve her from the pain she was starting to get restless. After trying to sleep for another half an hour Emma decided to call it quits and do something else. She knew Casey and Dennis would be back again tomorrow, they had left for the night to give her some space and allow her to relax a while longer, unfortunately it did mean she was left with her own thoughts... not the safest thing to be left with. She found herself in the kitchen before long and started rummaging through the cupboards hoping to find something to snack on, until she reached the end cupboard and found a bottle of whiskey, which she pulled out gingerly.

She couldn't believe it was still in here, she would have thought David would have at least had a clear out before letting her come back here, but then again he had refused to leave the hospital until she did so he probably didn't have time to, that and the fact that she hadn't had a drink in just over a year now either meant he hadn't noticed or didn't think she would want it. 

On a regular day, that would have been the case but after everything she had been through she would try anything if it meant she could escape, no matter how bad it was. She got a glass and poured in the alcohol, bringing it to her nose, smelling the familiar scent of it which she had carried with her for so long, she hesitated for a moment, knowing this was not going to end well before bringing it to her lips and downing the whole glass before filling it up again, she was tired of caring and just wanted to escape no matter the cost.


	38. Hurting

Casey and Dennis were on their way to see Emma since she had been cleared by the hospital, they had driven up there in silence for most of the journey. David had called and told them that she had seemed a little bit different last night, so he wasn't exactly sure on what they would be met with when they got there. Casey was hopeful that Emma would pull through, but she also remembered the broken look on her face as they saw her at the hospital and couldn't help but wonder if she had finally snapped. Emma had been through a lot in such a short space of time, Casey couldn't imagine trying to cope with that and she worried about what could be going on in Emma's head.

"She'll be fine" Dennis said, seeming to be able to read her mind and figure out where her thoughts had gone.

"How can you be so sure? Casey asked, Dennis shrugged his shoulders 

"Honestly, I'm not but Emma is strong, she'll make it through this" 

"No one can be that strong, at least without it having some form of long lasting effect on them" Casey argued 

"I guess we'll find out soon enough" Dennis responded as he turned off the road and towards the driveway that would lead them to their home for the past month. The closer they got the more Casey's stomach seemed to churn with anxiety, she was really nervous on what she would walk into but at the same time she still wanted to see Emma just to make sure she knew she wasn't alone.

They pulled up right outside the house and sat in the car for a few minutes

"You sure you want to go in there?" Dennis asked turning to face her, Casey nodded before replying

"I have to make sure she's okay, I don't like the thought of her all by herself, What if she isn't strong enough to carry on?" she said truthfully, Dennis studied her before squeezing her hand tightly

"Then we have to be her strength, no matter how difficult that challenge is" he answered 

They both got out of the car and made their way to the door, Dennis knocked on it loudly three times, when no one answered he tried turning the handle which, surprisingly turned easily opening the door, which he pushed to the side. When they entered the house something felt wrong straight away, it was almost like the feeling you get when someone has gone into your room and moved things about, but with the whole house instead.

"Emma?" Casey called wondering where she could be, before hearing something like a glass bottle rolling across a floor, it sounded like it was coming from the living room so they both walked quickly to that room. The sight they were greeted with made both of their hearts sink.

Emma was sprawled in a heap on the floor next to a glass of some sort of alcoholic drink and an empty bottle the other side of her, which had just stopped rolling away. She was groaning quite loudly her left cheek firmly planted on the floor and her eyes were closed, Dennis rushed up to her side to make sure she was okay.

He gently rolled her onto her side, immediately recognising the smell of whiskey as it hit his nose, making him urge as he remembered the days when he used to come home to a raging woman whose anger was fuelled by the same drink.

Casey joined him next to Emma looking down at her as she whispered 

"What have they done to you?" 

All of a sudden her eyes flashed open and she looked up at the two people she cared about the most staring down at her, she tried to get up but when that proved too difficult she gave up and just slumped back down on the floor, before speaking again.

"Hey guys long time no see" she slurred 

"Emma, what happened?" Casey asked

"The pain, it was too much I wanted to escape it so I did" she said in a broken tone

"You needed the whole bottle for that?" Dennis asked unconvinced

"It hurt a lot" Emma replied reaching for the glass again and bringing it to her lips, before she could drink anymore Dennis smacked it out of her hand watching it break as it hit the floor "That was my favourite glass" Emma moaned as Dennis started picking it up and cleaning the pungent liquid up with his handkerchief.

"Emma I don't understand, you have pills for the pain" Dennis replied angrily 

"Yeah, I know I took them too" she whispered not meeting their eyes

"How many have you taken?" Casey asked, Emma shook her head as she got up and rubbed her eyes 

" Half the pack.... maybe, maybe more" she said sheepishly

"They're supposed to last you a month, what the hell happened?"

"I..I just couldn't cope anymore... the pain, the misery it got too much, I saw the whiskey and I just thought fuck it, I don't know what happened after that...I guess I just overdid it" she moaned, her head spinning.

Dennis came back after clearing up the mess, carrying another glass this time filled with water

"Here, drink that and sober up" he said giving her a stern look as she took it "Water?" she asked

"No it's vodka, of course it's bloody water" he remarked 

"Huh, how boring, waters boring" Emma responded

"It also won't kill you as quickly, so boring is fine by me" Dennis spat back

"Shame" Emma said before taking a sip, Casey stared at her concerned by what she just said

"What do you mean by that?" she questioned

"Nothing" Emma sighed "I think it's best if I head to bed" Emma said before standing up and stumbling to her room, leaving Dennis and Casey gobsmacked at what they'd just witnessed.

"We were right she has snapped" The Beast remarked 

"It was just the one slip up" Dennis tried to convince himself to no avail and The Beast chuckled

"And how many times did one turn into many with your mother, your friend has snapped and there is no escaping that, she is lost" he growled.

Dennis shook his head, he couldn't let Emma fall into this, he'd seen what this road turned people into and he wouldn't stand by and watch that happen again.

"What's the plan?" Casey asked, recovering from her shock

"I'm gonna do a clear out, make sure she's clean, call David let him know whats happened" Dennis responded, turning towards the kitchen.


	39. Interesting discovery

David walked into Emma's house and was met with Dennis's stern expression.

"Where is she?" he demanded, unable to contain his anger as Dennis gestured upstairs

"She's in her room" he replied in a calmer tone before David marched up the stairs and heading to her room. 

He was furious, she had gone way too far this time, she didn't even talk about it and that was the worst part, it was almost like she was afraid to trust anyone again. This was a massive blow considering how far she had come, she had made so much progress and now all of that had been thrown away.

David didn't even knock on the door he just walked straight in, slamming the door behind him. Emma was sat in an armchair, hands locked together, with a look of expectancy written over her face as she looked up to brave his fury.

"Your later than I thought you'd be, what took you so long?" Emma smirked 

"You really think this is the time to be making jokes?" he said through gritted teeth 

"On the contrary, I always find these situations are better discussed under a lighthearted atmosphere" Emma answered back, leaning back in her armchair "But naturally you wouldn't agree"

"One night, you couldn't handle one night on your own" David raised his voice 

"Shh stop yelling" Emma spoke, wincing slightly

"No I don't think I will, what were you thinking Emma?" he roared

"I lost control okay, I'm sorry you left a bottle of whiskey in the house, I just used it to escape from this" Emma moaned

"Escape from what?" he questioned

"The pain, sadness, the memories, take your pick, I think you'll find there were a lot of reasons that made that bottle look tempting" she scoffed 

"You said if something was bothering you, you would talk about it, that's a years worth of progress you've made gone down the drain, just because you can't control yourself" David spat

" I can't control myself, David the past month I have been shot, beaten, tortured mentally and physically and was nearly killed, do you think you could control yourself after all of that, the great unbreakable man, not everyone is as strong and resilient as you including me, now if your done with the rant can you just get out" Emma yelled, gesturing to the door.

"What?" he breathed 

"You heard me, leave" she replied in a stone cold voice

"Emma...."

"Look I don't want to fight anymore so just go David" she said turning her back towards him, David was slightly taken aback by this but knew Emma wasn't going to back down so he huffed before saying

"Fine but this conversation is far from over I hope you realise that" David replied

"A conversation, was that what that was supposed to be, sounded more like a shouting competition" Emma replied, David shook his head as he turned to leave the room.

"If Laura was here, she would be ashamed of what you've done" David muttered turning to face her again, her shoulders were slumped and she had tears in her eyes but her expression was a mask of full on rage. 

"Get out" she breathed and David turned to leave the room regretting that last comment.

He came back downstairs where Dennis was waiting for him

"Well that went well" Dennis remarked, David rolled his eyes at that

"She was bad before but now...she's stepped it up a lot, problem is she won't listen to me anymore and I don't know what else to try"

Dennis nodded "Maybe I could try speaking to her, she might listen better to someone else" he suggested.

"If you want to give it a go feel free but don't feel too disappointed if she turns you away as well" David shrugged "Right I better get back to my son, you sure you can handle her?"

"I had to deal with an angry, drunk woman from the age of three, I can handle her" Dennis answered 

"Well you sure sound confident, so I guess that's a start" David observed before rattling his car keys and heading for the door "thanks for calling me by the way, let me know how she is in the morning" he bid farewell before driving back home.

Dennis watched him leave before looking upstairs towards Emma's room, he was debating whether to go up there but thought better of it, Emma probably needed time and Dennis hadn't finished searching the house for alcohol yet so he decided to continue doing that, the next room he had left to do was the study, he knew it would be an odd place to keep alcohol but he had learnt from Kevin's mother that if they were desperate enough people were willing to hide it anywhere. 

He opened the door and walked in, already hating the room for how dusty it was and instantly pulling out his handkerchief straight away, cleaning the bits he could whilst searching for any alcohol. After searching for a long time he couldn't find any he looked up and noticed that the computer was on, he must have turned it on somehow whilst he was cleaning and now the screen was casting a low glow over the room, normally he wouldn't have been too interested but something had caught his eye.

The desktop was set up very much like the one in their office at the zoo, there were five names under six different video logs on the right hand corner of the screen, the names were Harper, Denzel, Jennifer, Christopher, Emma and Jason. Dennis stared at the screen unsure what to make of this.

"I think you know what this means" Patricia whispered to him

"No we can't just jump to conclusions" he answered 

"Then watch them and find out" The Beast growled, growing curious as to what he saw.

Dennis sighed before clicking on the log listed as Harper's, the log started playing and there Emma was sat there dressed in a white blouse, pink cardigan and her hair done up in a bun, whilst her face was covered with a thick layer of make up.

"Well, well, well, it seems we have more in common than we previously anticipated, how interesting" Patricia mused.

"She is one of us" The Beast remarked 

"What are you guys talkin about etcetera" Hedwig chimed in feeling like he was missing out

"Our friend, the detective is actually more like us than we previously thought dear" Patricia responded 

Dennis said nothing, ignoring the sounds of both astonishment and excitement at their new discovery and just stared at the screen, astonished at what he had just found out and unsure on how to react to it.

 

Authors note

So how many of you enjoyed the twist, let me know what you think, thank you for reading anyway hope you've enjoyed it :)


	40. Confrontation

Dennis went up to Emma's room and knocked loudly on the door, before practically stumbling into her room.

"Whoa, Dennis have you been drinking too?, can't say I blame you" Emma smirked

"Shut up, we need to talk" he panted

"Have you come to lecture me on my excessive use of drugs and alcohol? David has already tried and I'll give you the same answer I gave him, I fucked up I know that and it won't happen again, happy now" she ranted

"I don't want to talk about the alcohol, but something more...delicate" Dennis stammered.

"What are you talking about Dennis?" she asked, her curiosity piqued 

"Why did you decide to take the case?" Dennis pressed 

"Why so interested?" Emma questioned

"Just answer the damn question" Dennis snapped before breathing slowly trying to regain his composure.

"Alright, I was intrigued, I found the case intriguing so I took it" Emma explained 

"It has nothing to do with your "condition"" he said air quoting the word condition, he hated using it but it might have been the only way Emma had heard it described.

"What could my addiction to alcohol and drugs possibly done to draw me to the case?" she asked puzzled

"That's not the condition I was talking about" Dennis hinted and Emma seemed to get agitated all of a sudden.

"I have no idea what your talking about" she answered 

"Oh I think you do" Dennis responded looking into her dark blue eyes, knowing fully well she knew what he was talking about.

"How did you find out?" Emma asked suspiciously

"The computer in the study, I uh might have turned it on when I was cleaning it" Dennis replied sheepishly as Emma nodded.

"Who did you see, just out of interest?" Emma replied 

"Harper, how many are there"

"Ahh Harper, I miss her, there were six of us together" Emma confirmed

"Were?" Dennis asked raising his eyebrows "What do you mean by that?"

"Well it's a long story but... well they're not actually here anymore" she said tapping her forehead, Dennis just stood there looking puzzled, Emma sighed before gesturing to the bed "You might want to sit down for this" she said before beginning her story.

"I had a rough childhood, I was moved around to foster home after foster home after my parents abandoned me, sadly I wasn't the most popular kid in the block which made me a target for their bullying...I got beat up a lot as a kid, something I'm sure you can emphasise with" she paused as Dennis nodded.

"I didn't have a parental figure and it was a pretty isolating place to be in as a kid, I didn't talk to anyone, I don't really remember having a good memory in those places, Harper was the first of my alters to show up, I was five at that point... I'd just been adopted by this horrible old lady, who was very fond of the old fashioned punishments which she used on me, I had a lot of injuries due to a ruler or an item that was chucked at me, that sort of thing"

"Shit" Dennis muttered

"Yeah, needless to say she didn't meet the requirements needed for an inspection after they saw me with a black eye so I packed and was sent back to another foster home, Harper formed due to my lack of a parental figure or a friend, she kinda became my sister as well as my friend, she would make sure I had a friend to talk to and a family member to look after me and for a long time it was me and her against the harsh reality we were up against, then I went to school...turned out I had the attention span of a goldfish and I wasn't the most academic kid, that's when Christopher formed he got me through school, college and uni, he was a genius and kinda like the teachers pet....not like Jenifer, I got in trouble because of Jennifer a lot... she was the loudmouth in the group and she wasn't afraid to speak her mind...some would say too much and because of that detentions were abundant" Emma chuckled "She would fight the battles I couldn't...I wasn't good with conflict back then but Jen was so that was her role"

"What about Denzel?" Dennis asked 

"Oh Denzel is basically the Hedwig to my group, I guess he was making up for the childhood I never had... he was a good kid, bit of a handful and boy he could sulk if he wanted to but other then Harper...I'd say I miss him the most" Emma replied looking down guiltily.

"You keep talking about them in past tense...what happened?" Dennis asked confused

Emma huffed loudly "Jason happened, he was the last of my alters to form and I remember that day very well, I was an FBI agent back then, just passed all my training...thanks to the others, and I was undercover trying to take down these criminal overlords who were suspected for selling drugs and using the money to purchase illegal firearms, all was going well until another agent blew our cover and left me behind...I was imprisoned and tortured for months, I didn't see the sun once during that time, was hardly given anything to eat and beaten to almost death for most of that time, Jason formed to aid me in escaping that foul place" 

"How?"

"By killing everyone, he manged to snap the interrogators neck and then used their weapons against them, before blowing up the place, after I got back the agency was appalled by what had happened, I had no evidence about the guys that imprisoned me for months and they discharged me due to Jason's ever increasing violent behaviour shortly afterwards, he attacked several agents, claiming that they looked at me the wrong way, so my FBI career was over shortly after that, that's when I became a detective, then I met Laura and that's sort of the moment when everything changed"

"Because of Laura?" Dennis asked

"Mmm, you see when I met Laura I had someone else to look out for, whereas before it had always just been me and the others, everyone else was happy for me and they were quite happy to let me have the light for longer periods of time, I wasn't really like your host, Kevin, I could handle reality that wasn't my problem I just hated being alone, never settling down in one place or having a family does that to you, but it didn't mean I would shy away from having the light, anyway Laura became my family and everything was fine, until she moved in with me permanently Jason started getting more and more volatile, we were able to hold him back for the time being but it was only a temporary solution, he became jealous of Laura and started seeing her as a threat and one night I let my guard down and he managed to steal the light from me when I was asleep, he grabbed a knife and slit her throat" she whispered, her voice cracked as she fought to control the sobs that were starting to form "The paramedics didn't make it in time and she died before we even reached the hospital"

"Wait, Casey got told that someone broke into the house and murdered her" Dennis recalled

Emma sniffled "That was the story I told everyone else, I mean what sounds more believable to you? someone broke into the house and killed her or the fact that I have DID and one of my alters killed her out of jealousy just to spite me, if you were a police officer which would you believe?" Emma answered

"So you lied to protect the others then"

Emma nodded "I couldn't do that to the others, Harper, Denzel, they wouldn't have been able to cope in there so I kept quiet, told them a different story and the case was closed soon afterwards, but it did nothing to reduce the guilt I felt so I drank and eventually turned to drugs in order to escape, the drugs took the pain away and the alcohol would help me to forget and I did that for months until it became unbearable to live like that, so I slit my wrists and waited to die" Emma said hollowly, as Dennis winced at the words "Turns out it was all for nothing in the end because next thing I remember was waking up in a hospital feeling like shit and with an empty feeling in my head" 

"What?" 

"Turns out that David found me in time to save me but the others...they were gone, I killed them and they never reformed so I lost everything including my family just because I couldn't cope anymore" Emma said bitterly, rolling up her sleeve to reveal a pale, white scar running down her wrist "This serves as a reminder of what my recklessness cost me and despite all of that I still turned to the bottle last night because I couldn't cope, what sort of a failure does that make me?" she asked.

"Your not a failure" Dennis told her "We're gonna help you get through this together" he assured her.

"Why?" Emma asked 

"Because we're more alike than you think" he explained

"Oh Dennis we're really not" Emma chuckled

"How so?"

"Unlike yours, my Beast won"


	41. Powerful Knowledge

Stevens looked at the work the surgeons had done to fix his face in the mirror, glaring at the long scar going down his cheek from where he had been thrown on the floor, The Beast had torn off quite a few layers of skin and broken his nose and jaw and knocked out some of his teeth but he had escaped with his life which was more then what he could say about Emma, he knew she was still alive but unlike him she would be broken in a different way.

Stevens knew about Emma's disgusting use of drugs and alcohol and was adamant that if she was still alive after the stab wound he gave her she would find another way to finish herself off, presumably by overdosing on a combination of the two, he would almost feel sorry for her if she wasn't such an annoying pain in the ass, all he knew was that he was glad it was her instead of him. His wounds would heal in time, they may leave a few scars but they would heal, mental wounds were harder to recover from, which is why Stevens had made sure to play with her emotions and her head during that month he tortured her, Emma made it extremely easy to do, all he had to do was mention her dear Laura and she would snap.

He put on his jacket and went to see what progress Elijah had made on his master plan to help him take down David and Crumb, he had promised Stevens that he had been working on something that would cause them to tear themselves apart but he hadn't been very forthcoming on his plan or the progress he had made. He knocked on the door and a gruff voice answered 

"It's open" 

Stevens sighed before opening the door ans walking inside, Elijah looked him up and down looking amused by the state he was in.

"I see everything went according to plan" he mocked as Stevens slammed the door shut, unimpressed with his amusement at his own expense.

"You should thank me, now that Emma has been taken care of the plan should run as smoothly as predicted" Stevens answered.

"Yes I heard you handled that ransom extremely well" Elijah replied unimpressed 

"We may have underestimated the power and strength of Crumb's "Beast" but we were caught unawares, next time we'll be ready" Stevens assured "As for Emma, I have no doubt she is drinking herself away with the aid of some drugs to even begin to care about what we are up to" he finished, Elijah put his pencil down before clearing his throat.

"You seem very confident in your ability to break my sisters mind" he pointed out "You will note that she has been through quite a lot of unfortunate events during her lifetime, and you are sure you succeeded?" Stevens nodded

"I made sure she snapped, it was easy when you knew which buttons to press, which happens to be a specialty of mine" Stevens reassured.

"I guess we shall see" Elijah replied not looking as confident as Stevens had hoped.

"What about your plan then, how long before we are ready?" Stevens asked, eager to change the subject

"Just got to add a few finishing touches and then it should be ready, your men have set up the location I presume everything is in order" Elijah answered 

"Yes everything is set up ready and waiting for you" Stevens assured "This better be worth it Price" he said.

"Was that a threat Agent?" Elijah asked, his steel cold stare meeting Stevens snake like eyes.

"No I just want to make sure that after all this time and planning that we will get a result and that I can write a report saying that both of these dangerous people have been taken care of" he said dropping his gaze.

"Trust me Agent, this will work as long as you play your part and leave me to play mine" Elijah promised.

"How are you planning to take them down?, I mean you are dealing with an unbreakable man and a man who is more animal than man and yet you haven't told me anything about how it is your going to take them down" Stevens questioned.

"I'm not planning on taking them down, it's easy to take them down with a bullet or a bomb, I want them to destroy each other" Elijah replied 

"But how?" Stevens asked again exasperated with these cryptic answers he kept getting from Elijah.

"What's your opinion on knowledge is power?" Elijah asked unfazed by Stevens out burst, Stevens shrugged and went

"I don't see what that has to do with anything" Stevens growled

"I think knowledge is what makes you powerful, everyone has secrets, information about themselves they're not proud of and with enough digging usually you can find something very interesting that links the most unlikely of people" Elijah explained

"You found something that links the two of them?" Stevens asked, excitedly

"Yes I believe I have, something that will tear apart any form of an alliance they may have formed together" Elijah spoke proudly

"Can you tell me what it is?" Stevens asked excitedly, Elijah shook his head before chuckling slightly at the notion.

"Absolutely not, if this is to work as planned then it needs to be handled delicately and with precision" he explained "Now if you'll excuse me Agent if we are to proceed as scheduled I need to work alone" Elijah turned back to his project signalling to Stevens that their conversation was over.

Stevens walked towards the door and left in a hurry bringing his phone to his ear to make a call to his team hat were on standby

"Is everything in place?" he asked hurriedly 

"Yes sir, we're all ready and accounted for" came the reply from one of his men, he sighed with relief before saying

"Good, if this goes horribly wrong we need to be ready to take them out" he explained before preparing to meet them there.


	42. Unfriendly Conversation

Emma was sat in her room staring out the window at the starry sky when she heard the door knock behind her.

"Come in" she called, before gulping down the last bit of whiskey she had managed to stow away in her room, Patricia was the one to enter her room much to Emma's surprise.

"Hello dear, we are very glad to see you recovered from your injury" she greeted her soft, monotone voice.

"I presume you must be Patricia, we haven't officially met yet, not meaning to be rude but what are you doing here?" Emma asked swallowing back her unease. 

"You caused quite a stir in the group with your little secret, everyone is very eager to meet you" Patricia explained.

"I'm sure we'll all eventually meet each other in the near future" Emma muttered before pinching the bridge of her nose "How come your here specifically?" she asked.

"Dennis told us about your excessive alcohol and drug consumption, he seemed rather concerned about it" Patricia remarked, Emma sighed a little bit annoyed that Dennis felt the need to tell essentially a complete stranger her personal problems.

"I'm touched by your concern but you needn't have bothered I'm fine" Emma lied, trying to act less drunk than she actually was.

"Your lying" Patricia said through narrowed eyes.

"And what makes you think that?" Emma asked uncomfortably, Patricia breathed through her nose before speaking in a sinister tone

"I know a liar when I see one, did you not think that we wouldn't recognise the stench of that horrible drink you are using to poison yourself with" she said threateningly "Where is it" she asked

"No where, I drank it all" Emma replied sheepishly looking away from Patricia to avoid her intense stare.

"Did you know that Kevin's mother used to drink like you?" Patricia asked 

"I might've read about it somewhere" Emma replied humouring her 

"Yes she was a terrible drunk, her drinking would cause her anger which in turn ended up with poor Kevin getting beaten by her, she made him suffer through all of that for most of his childhood, you can understand why we are not a big fan of drinkers such as yourself" Patricia's voice went cold.

"A drinker, what a generous title, you think I want to be like this?" Emma replied matching Patricia's tone

"Well you are clearly making no attempt to clean up your act are you?" she spat harshly, Emma just started laughing, it was a hollow, broken laugh which made Emma look slightly mad.

"When you've been through everything I've been through and lose everything I've lost, if your not even tempted by something in order to escape that pain, then and only then can you lecture me on how wrong this is, besides you don't even know me" Emma spat back.

"No, you only told Dennis that you were a former FBI agent who had a bad childhood and developed your alters because of that reason, you later fell in love with a girl named Laura who was then brutally murdered by one of them which you covered up to protect them, which later led to your addictions and later on your attempted suicide, I think that's enough to go on don't you?" Patricia purred.

"Did he tell you that?" Emma asked 

"Oh no dear, we were listening to your story the entire time, you must realise that whatever you tell one of us the rest of us will hear as well, especially when it is something as interesting as this" Patricia reminded her of the bitter truth, no matter who's in the light your not speaking to one individual, your speaking to many.

"Wow I'm glad I've become the centre of everyone's attention" Emma grumbled sarcastically 

"I'm not" Patricia replied bluntly, Emma raised her eyebrows as one side of her mouth lifted up in a smile.

"Hmm I thought you wouldn't be, are you here to tell me that I'm interrupting your master plan" Emma mused.

"You have been stalling yes, The Beast has grown impatient with Dennis's growing compassion" Patricia replied disgust radiating off of her.

"And what do you want me to do about that?" Emma asked

"He needs to be reminded of our mission, and unfortunately you and Casey have become a major distraction, particularly Miss Cooke who has been fueling his bad habits" 

"Really, he's in love is that really a crime?" Emma snapped, Patricia's face darkened

"You would do well to remember we have known him longer, we know what he is like and you really think that some random girl is going to change him?" Patricia hissed

"Love changes everyone and that sort of bond is a tough one to break, yes he may have done bad things in the past but it doesn't mean he isn't capable of change" Emma responded "Anyway I think we went off on a tangent, you wanted me to do something?"

"Dennis needs ...an incentive to keep him focused on his goals, we need you to convince him to stick to our mission" Patricia explained.

Emma yawned, bored of this conversation "Missing your hired muscle hmm?, also I'm not sure how you could call cannibalising young girls could be considered a mission really, just saying" 

"Enough you will convince him to remain loyal to The Beast as was discussed" Patricia snarled, walking over to her, making Emma lean back into the chair "You are lucky you are pure or I would have half of mind to hurt you" she whispered, as Emma gulped slightly "Now you will be a dear and convince him for us won't you?".

"What happens if I can't or if I refuse?" Emma asked as Patricia edged away from her slightly.

"Then tell him he can say goodbye to the possibility of ever having the light again, I'll let you think on that by yourself for a while, goodnight dear" Patricia said before, turning to leave.

Emma sighed not knowing what to do next, she couldn't let Dennis carry on with this heinous plan, he tried to cover it up but Emma could tell he had been mortified by his part the first time and she knew he couldn't do that again, she wouldn't let him. Emma was getting frustrated by all of this so she did the only thing she knew that would help relieve her of her stress, which happened to be pouring another glass of whiskey from her stowed away bottle.


	43. Comeback

Casey had woken up during the night feeling sick so she had decided to go outside for a bit and get some air, on her way back to her room though she heard the sound of glass being shattered coming from Emma's room followed by a yell afterwards. 

Casey was really worried about Emma, she had been distant but very erratic the past few days which had been putting her on edge, Dennis had talked to her she knew that but he hadn't shared any details on what had been discussed, Dennis told her that he had needed time to process everything that had been said first so it must have been something big.

Another loud bang coming from her room shook her out of her thoughts as she walked closer to her room, something was obviously bothering her but as to what it was Casey was completely in the dark about it. She knocked on the door, hoping that Emma would answer.

"What!" Emma yelled in an aggressive tone she'd never used before, it startled Casey how different she sounded.

"Emma it's Casey, what's going on?" Casey asked trying to keep the growing fear out of her voice.

"Nothing I'm fine" Emma replied in a more reserved but strained voice

"Can I come in?"

"No, no don't do that" Emma said frantically

"Why not?" she asked

"I don't want you to see me like this" Emma responded dejectedly before Casey heard another thud before she heard her starting to sob uncontrollably.

Casey took a step closer to the door trying to decide what to do, she had no idea what was going on on the other side of the door but as she carried on listening to her friends desperate cries her heart started to break, Emma didn't deserve this, she was good, kind and caring, someone that good shouldn't have to deal with so much on their own.

"Emma I'm coming in" Casey said assertively as she ignored Emma's weak protests and opened the door to step inside.

The smell of whiskey hit her straight away and it took everything she had not to urge at the smell, she looked at Emma and understood why she didn't want Casey to see her. She was sitting with her back against the wall furthest from the door, her eyes were puffy and bloodshot , either from crying or drinking, probably both in this circumstance, and she had a cut on her left cheek and her usually neat shirt was crumpled and part of the collar was sticking up slightly on one side. Casey's attention though was drawn to one of Emma's hands which was swollen and red. 

"What happened?" Casey asked not impressed with the persistent antics Emma was pulling a the moment, Emma hid her hand away and huffed.

"Nothing I just hit a wall, wasn't my best decision" she scoffed "I did warn you not to come in" 

"Honestly did you really think I was going to walk away after hearing that?" Casey asked, edging a bit closer towards Emma "What's going on Emma?" she asked sitting opposite her as Emma took a shaky breath, wiping away her tears with her uninjured hand.

"Patricia visited me earlier" Emma whispered, the name made Casey's skin crawl and she felt a shiver go up her spine.

"And?" she asked patiently

"She wants me to convince Dennis to swear loyalty to The Beast" she chuckled hollowly before saying "Apparently we're making him soft and The Beast doesn't like that" Casey leaned back not sure what to say to this.

"What happens if you don't?" 

"Then Dennis loses the light, you'll never see him again, I don't want that to happen but at the same time Dennis doesn't deserve to be forced into helping them with their evil plan" Emma mumbled "I feel like I'm fighting two battles...and neither of them can be won" she groaned defeated.

"Have you told Dennis yet?" 

Emma shook her head "I wouldn't know where to start, that and he'd be pissed if he found out I had a hidden bottle of alcohol" she said sheepishly.

"Where is it now?" Casey asked exasperated 

"The bottle is smashed on the floor, the whiskey itself....I drank it" Emma mumbled.

"I need you to sober up and then freshen yourself up a bit Emma, we need you" Casey pleaded with her, Emma looked at her with confusion

"look at me Casey, I'm a total mess and I can't control this, Why the hell would you need me?" Emma asked.

"Because we can't do this alone, do you really think Dennis can fight Patricia and The Beast alone?, he needs our help" Casey begged looking into Emma's light blue eyes which held so much pain and grief "We can get through this together" Casey whispered defiantly.

"I'm sorry...I just can't" Emma said shaking her head, Casey grabbed her by the shoulders and forced her to look at me.

"Yes you can, I need the detective I first met, the one that wasn't afraid to go up against my Uncle even if it meant getting hurt, the one that stood up to The Beast alone even after seeing what he could do, I know how guilty you feel about losing your family once, but right now you have a chance to save this one, don't let it happen again" Casey pleaded.

Emma nodded a small smile appearing on her face as she sniffled and wiped her eyes again, before pulling Casey into an unexpected hug, which she gladly returned.

"Do you really mean that?" Emma mumbled

"Of course I do" Casey confirmed

"Thank you Casey, that means a lot" Emma whispered.

"No problem, you would have done the same for us, so what's the plan?" Casey asked hopeful that Emma would be back to her usual self soon enough.

Emma took a deep breath before saying "Well first I'm gonna freshen up, then I will talk to Dennis about this but I will not stop until he is free of The Beast's control no matter how long that will take" she said a bit of her old confidence seeping back into her voice as she spoke, before jumping up and heading to the shower. 

Casey smiled as she watched her friends usual energy start to come back, she may not be there yet but Emma Price was definitely making a comeback.


	44. Childsplay

Emma heard rustling and cupboards being opened and shut in one of the spare rooms in the house, she wondered if it could be another alter since she couldn't find Dennis anywhere. She had to admit after meeting Patricia for the first time she was slightly apprehensive about meeting the others, Emma could tell instantly that Patricia had a dangerous aura, every cell in her body had been screaming at her to run, she almost reminded her of the old lady who had adopted her first she had also had a calm demeanour which was a mask for her silent rage, the similarities did not help ease her worry.

There was something about meeting Kevin's alters that intrigued her though, he was the only other person she had met that had DID and she found that a little overwhelming but definitely relieving, for a long time despite the fact that she had five other people living in her head Emma always felt like she was alone, she knew other people had DID but it always seemed like they lived on a different planet because she had never encountered anyone else who had it until now. She couldn't understand how they coped with so many personalities in one body, having six was often a struggle especially when one of them was a less than discrete psychopath who thought everything and everyone was a threat, but twenty four sounded like a nightmare she had to admire them it couldn't be easy to keep that many of them happy all the time she remembered the constant arguments she would have to endure with her alters if something changed their schedule last minute, usually her and Harper managed to come to a compromise in the end but it would leave them both exhausted afterwards. She used to hate those arguments and now it was funny how much she would give to have them back, she sighed before opening the door to see what was happening.

It was definitely one of Kevin's alters but it was one she hadn't met before, he was wearing a yellow and black jacket and baggy blue jeans and he was busy pulling out a blue plastic box full of Lego, Emma had completely forgotten that once upon a time this room belonged to Denzel, she had cleared most of the furniture out a long time ago but she couldn't bring herself to get rid of his toys so they had been kept in the cupboards in boxes.

"Hey what're you doin here?" Hedwig's question brought Emma back to the present as she focused on the confused look on the nine year old's face.

"I just heard a lot of noise and wanted to make sure everything was alright" Emma said

"Everything's fine, I just got bored etcetera...hey your the detectiv lady" Hedwig exclaimed

Emma chuckled "Yep that's me" she nodded, sitting down next to Hedwig who was busy fishing out different coloured bricks and building something with them "I'm not supposed to talk to you"

"Why not?" Emma asked

"Miss Patricia says so....she says your tryin to turn Mister Dennis against us" he said with a pout "Are you?" 

"No Hedwig I'm not, I'm trying to help you guys" 

"I don't believe you" Hedwig muttered "Your gonna get me into trouble etcetera"

"Trust me Hedwig I'm not trying to" Emma reassured 

"La, la, la I'm not listening" Hedwig shouted putting his hands to his ears, Emma shook her head, marvelling at the similarities between Denzel and Hedwig, it was an impossible task trying to make Denzel do anything once he had made up his mind and would sulk for hours before coming around, seemed like Hedwig was going to be exactly the same. So Emma started absentmindedly playing with the toys until Hedwig was ready to talk again. 

After a few minutes of silence Hedwig looked over and saw her working on an old transformers toy.

"Hey what is that?" Hedwig's curiosity getting the better of him

"It's a transformer, called bumblebee" Emma explained as she finished putting it into robot mode "Would you like to hold it?" she asked, Hedwig hesitated before saying

"What if Miss Patricia finds out?...I could get in trouble etcetera" 

"Well Miss Patricia doesn't have to know, I won't tell her if you don't" Emma promised handing him the toy whilst looking into Hedwig's still suspicious eyes until his playful side took over and he snatched the toy out of her hand.

"This is so cool" he yelled marvelling the toy

"You can keep it if you like" Emma suggested, Hedwig looked up at her giving her a huge grin

"Thanks" Hedwig responded "Does this mean we're friends now etcetera?"

"Yeah I think it does" Emma answered smiling back

"Yay what do you wanna do now?" Hedwig asked excitedly

"Well Hedwig I was hoping you could do something for me" Emma said carefully not wanting to say or do anything to put the boy on edge or lose what little trust she had gained.

"What?" Hedwig asked

"I need to talk to one of the others but I might need you to go and get them for me" Emma said

"Who is it?" Hedwig asked, Emma move closer to Hedwig before whispering 

"I need you to get Barry for me"

Hedwig's eyes widened "No, no I can't do that, he's not supposed to have the light anymore" he answered frantically

"Okay then what about Dennis?" she asked 

"Miss Patricia doesn't want you to talk to him either" 

"Hedwig please it's really important" Emma begged

"I can't she'll get mad etcetera" he stuttered, Emma sighed before she came up with another idea.

"Hedwig do you know how to play rock,paper, scissors?" Emma asked

"Duh everyone does" he replied "Why are you asking?"

"Because I want to play" Emma said

"Ohhh okay" Hedwig said becoming excited again

"There are rules okay, if I win you let me talk to Dennis"

"And if I win?" he asked raising his eyebrows 

"I don't know what would you like Hedwig?" Emma asked

"I want a massive bowl of ice cream, Miss Patricia won't let me have it very often, she says it makes me hyper etcetera" Hedwig decided

"Okay then ice cream it is" Emma replied 

"Just don't get upset when I beat you cos I'm really good etcetera" Hedwig grinned 

"I guess we'll find out, when I win" Emma replied, making Hedwig giggle hysterically as they got ready to play.


	45. Sore loser

Emma and Hedwig shook their hands before showing which option they had chosen. Hedwig yelled triumphantly as he realised he had won. 

"Ha, ha rock beats scissors, I win" Hedwig grinned

"You won this round, you still have two to go yet" Emma reminded him, but she could tell he was beginning to feel overconfident.

They played again and this time Emma won, much to Hedwig's disappointment 

"Hey no fair you cheated" Hedwig moaned as Emma grinned, shaking her head and saying

"Looks like it's a tie" she commented and Hedwig snorted

"Not for long, I'm so gonna beat you etcetera" he said determinedly 

"If you say so" Emma shrugged, she had sussed out Hedwig's strategy now. They shook their hands again and stopped simultaneously, both of them looking down at their opponents hand, Hedwig had chosen rock just as Emma predicted and she had gone for paper, meaning that Emma had won the game.

"Hey that's not fair, can we try again etcetera?" Hedwig exclaimed.

"Sorry Hedwig but I won fair and square" Emma answered, Hedwig huffed loudly making a small pout.

"You still cheated" Hedwig muttered crossing his arms

"Could I speak to Dennis now Hedwig?" Emma asked

"I don't think I should let you etcetera" Hedwig decided

"Hedwig we had a deal" Emma warned 

"So" 

"So that means you gotta stick to the deal we made" Emma explained

"Miss Patricia told me not to" Hedwig muttered closing his eyes 

"When?" Emma asked suspiciously "Hedwig when did she say that?" She asked again feeling the blood drain out of her face.

"Just now dear" Patricia's voice replied Emma watched in horror as Hedwig's posture was replaced with Patricia's rigid one, before Emma could do anything else the back of Patricia's hand was brought down hard on Emma's cheek. 

"Did you really think the boy would keep secrets from me foolish girl" she purred in her soft British voice as Emma involuntarily swung to the side due to the unexpected force of the slap on her face "Was it not enough that you managed to corrupt Dennis, now you would try and do the same thing to Hedwig hmm?, well you won't get away with it this time" she fumed, before standing up to her full height.

"That is not what's happening here" Emma tried to explain "Hedwig said you wouldn't let me talk to Dennis, how am I supposed to convince him to stay loyal to you and your Beast if I can't even see him?" Emma yelled resenting the slight quake in her voice which gave away her fear.

Patricia looked down at her a knowing smile emerging "My dear, Dennis answered for you, he made it quite clear he wanted no part in this anymore much to The Beast's disappointment" 

"What....what have you done to him?" Emma asked her voice trembling.

"He's asleep now dear, he put up an incredible fight, but alas even his strength cannot best that of The Beast's" Patricia responded, Emma looked at the floor in shock this couldn't be happening, they couldn't have taken Dennis away so easily she refused to believe it.

"Why...why make me go to all this trouble to ask him if you already asked him?" Emma breathed trying to keep her emotions in check.

"I wanted to see how far you were willing to go my dear, and you didn't disappoint, trying to use Hedwig against me was a very unwise move" Patricia replied with malice in her voice, before she yanked at Emma's hair making her yelp in pain as she forced her to stand up suddenly.

"We were hoping that maybe you would be useful to us, maybe even be willing to work with us in time however you have proven that you are willing to defy us at every turn" she whispered violently in Emma's ear.

"That's because what you and The Beast are doing is wrong and I'll never work with someone like that" Emma managed to spit out defiantly before Patricia yanked her hair again silencing her. 

"Hmm probably not your best answer my dear" Patricia mused before pushing Emma into the cupboards, feeling very satisfied by the groan that left her as one of her unhealed wounds hit the side at an awkward angle.

Emma rolled around so she was on her back staring up at the hateful woman who was reveling in the pain she was causing her

"What are you gonna do with me, am I to be your new victim to torment?, I've already been there recently and I'm not willing to start it again" Emma grumbled.

"No my dear, unfortunately your fate has been decided by The Beast and he has regarded you as too dangerous to be kept alive" Patricia replied softly "Usually the idea of killing one of our own would disgust me but The Beast is right about you, all you do is cause trouble and we need to put an end to that" 

"Your no better than Stevens, if you can't show mercy then how are you any better than those who hurt you?, Dennis knows that you should listen to him" Emma moaned

"Enough, your fate has been decided and that's final" Patricia said as she took a step back groaning as The Beast started taking control,the veins started rising as muscles started getting bigger, Hedwig's jacket started tearing at the seams as his body became bigger and more intimidating.

Emma got up slowly eyeing The Beast's transformation before taking a deep breath as his eyes fixed on hers, she put her hand out in front of her like she would do if comforting a scared animal before locking eyes with The Beast.

"Okay easy, Dennis I know you can hear me and if you can, I need you to fight this for me I know you can, your stronger than you think, think about Casey she needs you, please don't give up Dennis, I need you back" Emma begged, trying to reach out to Dennis, she knew it was a long shot but she had to try something.

"Dennis is gone, asleep just like Kevin" The Beast roared triumphantly "And now it is time for you to die, without you there will be no one to hold me back" He growled before lunging towards Emma. Emma's last thought was that Hedwig was a sore loser before deciding how to deal with The Beast charging towards her.


	46. Redecorating

As The Beast came charging towards her, Emma's FBI training started to take over she jumped out of the way and rolled to the other side of the room just in time and watched as The Beast went charging into the wall making a loud thud and growled in frustration.

Emma took the opportunity to reach out to Dennis again, praying that he was still in there somewhere listening to her.

"Dennis please I know your in there, just listen to me, I need you to fight this" Emma yelled

"Dennis is gone, you will never see him again" The Beast snarled, hitting the wall causing it to crumble.

Emma stared into his soulless eyes "You couldn't bring yourself to let him kill me before, I don't believe you'll let him get away with it again...please we need you to come back" Emma pleaded.

The Beast growled and charged at her again, Emma tried to jump out of the way again but The Beast saw through her plan and grabbed her by the collar throwing her on the floor, Emma gasped as the air was ripped from her lungs and The Beast towered over her grinning psychotically, Emma tried to get back up but The Beast grabbed her throat squeezing it tightly making it impossible for Emma to get enough oxygen.

"Dennis..." she croaked 

"You really think you can stop me, you are puny compared to me, I am a God you insignificant worm" he bellowed

Emma was about to pass out before she heard a loud smashing sound as something hit The Beast's head causing him to fall to the side, releasing Emma's throat as he did. Emma got up gasping for air looking up at Casey who was holding the remains of a small chair.

"Are you okay?" Casey asked

Emma was about to reply when she heard The Beast groan recovering from the blow Casey had dealt him.

"Run" Emma manage to yell as she grabbed Casey and ran out of the room slamming the door shut behind her.

"Emma what the hell is going on?" Casey yelled her eyes glaring at her

"Hedwig's a sore loser that's what's going on" Emma replied barricading the door with a large wooden table, she knew it wouldn't stop him but it might slow him down whilst she formulated a plan.

"What does that even mean?" Casey asked throwing her arms around to show her exasperation

"Okay long story short, I played a game of rock, paper, scissors in order to convince Hedwig to let me talk to Dennis, I won but the kid had given the light to Patricia who told me that they made Dennis sleep and now The Beast wants to kill me because I know too much and I'm the only one standing in their way" Emma explained as she ran down the stairs and opening a small safe hidden behind a painting and grabbing a pistol and loading it with a full magazine.

"What?... why did they make Dennis sleep before you talked to him?" Casey asked becoming more and more confused

"He said he wouldn't help them anymore so they made him sleep, I tried reaching out to him but The Beast is a nasty piece of work and is probably keeping him at bay for now" Emma said readying the pistol to fire, before looking at Casey's bowed head as the realisation that Dennis had been subdued hit her hard "Casey...Casey hey look at me" Emma said sternly kneeling down and grabbing her shoulders, forcing her to meet her gaze "We'll get him back, I promise...hey I promise, but right now we have to deal with The Beast" Emma whispered defiantly her blue eyes full of a new rekindled determination.

Casey nodded before drawing her attention back to the crashing on the wooden door and The Beast's angry snarls as he continued attacking the door, thankful that the doors all around the house were all quite thick.

"What did you have in mind?" Casey had to ask as she looked back at Emma who had a mischievous grin on her face which made her wish she hadn't asked.

"Just a spot of redecorating, I've been waiting for an excuse to get rid of that ugly chandelier for a while" Emma replied looking up at the large chandelier which was hanging from the ceiling directly underneath them in the corridor.

"Your going to knock him out with a chandelier?" Casey asked

"Hopefully, if not he'll have a hard time getting out of there quickly, I have some of those sedatives I used on you, but much stronger there in the safe, it should be enough to knock him out if the chandelier doesn't, take them and stay hidden until I call your name okay" Emma ordered and Casey nodded

"Good luck" Casey whispered before hiding in the next room just as the door gave in to The Beast's brutal attacks sending splinters in all directions as The Beast stormed out of the room in a blinding fury making his way down the stairs glaring at Emma.

"You dare try to imprison me, you will pay dearly for that!" he roared stalking down the stairs eyeing his prey , noticing the pistol in her hand "You should know by now that your weapons are inferior compared to my strength Detective, I'm disappointed in you" he sneered at her.

Emma waited patiently as The Beast carried on making his way down the stairs slowly, he wasn't in position yet just a few more steps before he could take the shot, she decided to humour him until then.

"Honestly Beasty I don't want to use this on you, just let me talk to Dennis I might be able to persuade him to work for you again" she reasoned, The Beast chuckled his maniacal grin stretching out as far as it could.

"You take me for a fool, I am not as gullible as the boy you tried to persuade earlier nor am I a weak minded fool like your friend Dennis, I will not be swayed by any offer given to me by you filthy impure...and now it is time for you to die" he growled before striding towards Emma at lightning fast speed.

Fortunately for Emma her years as an agent and a detective had made her reflexes insanely quick and she took the shot as soon as The Beast had pounced for her the bullet easily destroyed the singular metal chain that was keeping the chandelier in place and sent it crashing down on top of The Beast who was engulfed underneath the sheer weight and size of it.

The Beast growled and tried to get up but was pinned in place by the heavy object that had fallen on him and his rapidly waning strength meant that he was too weak to lift it off of himself and the sheer exhaustion of trying to free himself eventually left him weakened and dazed. Before he could think more on his predicament he suddenly felt an unpleasant sting on the back of his neck and the feeling of something being injected into him which made him growl in frustration as he couldn't do anything to stop it. As soon as the needle had been taken out The Beast started to feel groggy, sleep was starting to invade all of his other thought processes and his head started falling becoming increasingly heavier than usual. Before he slipped out of consciousness Emma appeared from behind him.

"Detective...this isn't over" he managed to growl before his mouth turned to rubber as the sedative took over.

"I know Beasty I know" Emma whispered before he blacked out completely.


	47. Reaching out

Inside Kevin's head...

Dennis jolted in his seat as he was woken up by The Beast who was growling furiously, Dennis figured that something outside must have pissed him off because he retreated to his train yard pretty quickly without a word spoken to anyone.

Dennis rubbed his eyes trying to get rid of the drowsiness he was experiencing after his fight with The Beast and the rest of The Horde, he didn't know how long that fight had gone on for or how long he had been forced to sleep for and the thought panicked him slightly, what if Casey had left him?, he had no idea how much time had passed, for all he knew several hours could have passed or several years and the thought of not seeing Casey again made him feel physically sick. He leaned forward in his chair resting his head in his hands trying to control his breathing, he was desperate to take the light again just so he could see her and hold her in his arms again, thinking of Casey was the only reason he had lasted in that fight as long as he had, he had told himself over and over that he was not going to let the others take her away from him without a fight, losing that fight had been inevitable without the help of anyone else Dennis had been severely outnumbered and had been forced to sleep his last memory had been of Casey's lips on his before he slipped into a consuming darkness.

Dennis caught Patricia pacing up and down their room with chairs and felt a surge of anger towards the woman, she had used him for her own selfish needs and discarded him just as easily after everything he had done for her and The Beast the thought of just being cast aside so easily made him increasingly angry, he cleared his throat before standing up.

"What the hell just happened?" he yelled making his anger apparent and startling Patricia much to his amusement

"Your good for nothing friend Detective Price is causing us some trouble" Patricia snapped recovering from Dennis's outburst

"Patricia maybe it is time you admit defeat, Emma is obviously way too smart or stubborn to let you win" Dennis insisted trying not to smirk as he said this.

"We will not stop just because of some insignificant whelp who is hell bent on causing trouble!" Patricia yelled raising her hand and smacking Dennis across the face causing him to whimper slightly, Dennis hated himself for showing his fear in front of her but he couldn't help himself, Kevin's mother had instilled in him a fear of being hit causing him to flinch away from the slightest movements, a fact that Patricia used to her advantage.

"Hmm you haven't changed at all Dennis, you may have grown up to be tall and strong but beneath all that your still that scared weak little boy you have always been... I don't know what Casey see's in you to be frank" Patricia mused before walking away to talk to The Beast leaving Dennis alone as he tried to control the sudden wave of anxiety he was feeling.

Dennis took a few deep breaths before he felt his panic lessen slightly, as he started to cry quietly, feeling the fear he had been trying to hide for the past few months overwhelm him, he wished Casey was with him now more than ever her warmth, gentle touch and her soothing voice speaking words of kindness was more than enough to lift him from this dark place he was sinking into.

"Dennis" a soft voice whispered so quietly he thought he had imagined it, it wasn't one of the others since they were all accounted for in their various seats sound asleep and Dennis couldn't imagine that any of them would call out to him after what he had done, besides this voice sounded like it was coming from outside rather than in the room.

"Dennis" the voice said a little more clearly and Dennis nearly collapsed back on the floor when he realized it was Casey's voice reaching out to him "Dennis if your in there, I really need you back...I miss you so much, Emma told me that Patricia and The Beast forced you to sleep but I don't believe it, your a good, strong and compassionate man and I refuse to believe someone as incredible as you can be taken away from me so easily..." Casey's voice broke as a sob threatened to come out, Dennis's eyes were brimming with tears of joy at being able to hear Casey's voice again even if he couldn't see her yet.

"It's okay baby I'm here" Dennis muttered in spite of himself

"I can't do this alone I need you back by my side Dennis, I love you, your the only man who has shown me what love feels like and I'm not ready to give up on that yet so please...please if you can hear this please come back to me Dennis" Casey begged before her beautiful voice disappeared again. 

"I love you too Casey" Denis whispered, weeping with joy at the short contact he had had with her, he had to get back to her no matter the cost, he scanned the faces of all the people sat in chair looking for the one man he needed to help him.

Once he had found him, head slumped forward as he slept Dennis marched over to him before shaking his shoulder until he was awake.

"Just five more minutes" Barry mumbled sleepily before turning around and trying to get back to sleep, Dennis rolled his eyes before whispering sharply in his ear

"Barry wake up" Barry jumped slightly before turning to face Dennis.

"What the hell Dennis" Barry exclaimed trying to regain his composure after nearly falling off his seat "What on earth do you want so urgently that you chose to wake me up at this ungodly hour?" he asked eyebrows raised.

"Barry I need you to let me have the light" Dennis pleaded

"What after all the trouble you've caused I don't think so, your lucky I'm even talking to you" Barry argued, Dennis bowed his head shame written all over his face.

"I know I fucked up but Barry please...I'm trying to fix this I really am but I can't do that from in here... I know you don't trust me anymore and I understand why...you have every right not to, but we used to be like brothers when we were little and if that part of you is still in there...please help me to do this, if not for me do it for Kevin" Dennis begged.

Barry considered it for a moment before shrugging his shoulders and saying

"Alright Dennis I'll help you out, but what about the rest of The Horde and The Beast?" Barry asked

"I have a friend on the outside who is helping us to fight him if he steals the light again as for in here if you can convince the others to help us subdue him I think we might have a chance to beat him, but only if we work together" he explained.

"Okay I'll see what I can do on my side good luck out there" Barry nodded

"Thanks" Dennis replied before getting ready to take the light.

"Don't worry Casey I'm coming" Dennis thought to himself


	48. Reunited

Dennis snapped his eyes open, staring up at the familiar surroundings of his and Casey's room, his entire body was aching, he actually felt like he had been run over by a tank or something. He felt the familiar warmth of the one person he had been dying to see since Patricia banned him from the light and turned to face her.

She was sound asleep her head resting on his chest, her soft breaths tickling his skin and her arms gripping him tightly even in her sleep. He smiled thinly as he kissed her forehead and started stroking her hair causing her to stir slightly, she moaned before her warm brown eyes emerged still heavy from sleep and met with his piercing blue ones, realization suddenly dawned on her face.

"Dennis?" she whispered, surprise written on her face, Dennis nodded grinning at her before tears started making their way down her face "How are you...Patricia said you were asleep" she stammered as Dennis pulled her closer shushing her 

"I heard you" Dennis explained, stroking her tangled brown hair and breathing in her scent before Casey pulled away holding his head in her tiny, shaking hands.

"Your really here" she said giddily still not believing he had come back to her, after days of not knowing whether she would see him again or even if he was alright meant that the relief that she was feeling became overwhelming as the tears began to fall again.

"Shh, it's okay I'm really here, I promise" Dennis reassured her before bringing her into a passionate kiss which, in his opinion, was long overdue and he sensed Casey thought so too. They both broke away out of breath but happy to be in each others arms again.

"I've missed you so much" Casey mumbled resting her forehead against his, sighing contentedly

"Me too" he admitted closing his eyes to try and dull the stinging of tears he felt burning in his eyes.

"How did you come back?" Casey asked 

"Barry helped" Dennis answered 

"You two are working together now?!" Casey exclaimed, Dennis silenced her with another kiss, he wasn't ready to explain that and since he was running on limited time he didn't want to waste any of it on explanations.

"Can we talk about it later?, I'm sorry...it's just that I don't know how much time I have out her and I just wanna be with you for now" Dennis pleaded slightly, looking up at her.

"Sure, but you do owe me an explanation later" Casey replied, Dennis nodded smiling at her.

"I thought I was never gonna see you again, when they put me in that chair...you were the only thing keeping me going" Dennis whispered.

"I never doubted you would find a way to come back to me" Casey promised, hands resting on his shoulders until Dennis picked one up and kissed it, before moving over to tower over her, causing her to gasp a bit when she hit the bed, being consumed by Dennis's protectiveness and grinning as he went to kiss her again, her hands travelling up his back and pulling him closer to her.

He only paused to take off his shirt, before he came down crashing his lips against hers again before travelling down her neck and nipping the skin hungrily, causing Casey to moan which only encouraged him to do it more.

He started lifting up her shirt and Casey lifted herself up sightly to help him take it off quicker, before his hands went to her bra which was quickly removed as well. Dennis wasted no time making his way down to suck on one of her nipples whilst Casey nipped at the skin on his neck, her hands unbuckling his trousers, which he quickly removed. 

His mouth came back up to hers, kissing her hungrily, before they both removed the remains of their clothing, Dennis looked into Casey's eyes her expression revealing to him how much she wanted him, she nodded at him signalling to him that she was ready, he kissed her again slowly before sliding into her, they both moaned as their bodies became accustomed to each other again before Dennis started to thrust slowly, picking up the pace if Casey wanted him to and waiting for her to tell him what else to do if anything, whilst she let her hands wonder up his back, his abdomen, pressing against his muscles which still twitched involuntarily under her touch and drove him crazy.

They both came to their climaxes fairly quickly, which neither of them minded, they were just ecstatic that they were both together again that they were quite content just to be in each others company and that was enough for them. Dennis rolled off of her after a while but never strayed away from her more than necessary, he brought her close to him and they stayed curled up in each others arms in blissful silence for awhile, Casey started drawing lazy circles on his side or tracing old scars, he wasn't too sure as he started playing with her hair.

She leaned forward and brought his head down to kiss him again.

"I'm so glad to have you back" Casey murmured, her voice so soft as she stroked his cheek with her thumb.

"Your the reason I am back" he answered gratefully, his voice gravelly as tiredness started to take over, resting his hand on hers and staring into her deep brown eyes "I love you Casey" he whispered, he would never get bored of saying that especially since it brought a huge smile onto Casey's face.

"I love you too Dennis" she replied, snuggling up closer to him never wanting to leave his comforting presence ever again.

They were both fast asleep soon after that, curled up in each others arms neither one of them eager to let go of the other as they both had the most blissful sleep both of them had ever had.


	49. Laura

Emma had locked herself in her room and was currently staring out at the fields surrounding the house, she was struggling with the aftershock of her fight with The Beast and sleep was definitely not coming any easier than usual her anxiety seeing to that, she'd tried not to but she had overdosed again on those damned pills she had been supplied with in an attempt to drown the panic that had been spreading all over her and washing it down with a glass of alcohol and now she was paying the price for it, the nausea had hit her hard and she was groaning loudly , she closed her eyes trying to block out all feelings and staggered to the bed where she collapsed on the pillows moaning incoherently until she passed out.

She hated how reliant she was on her addictions, unfortunately she'd had them from a young age and had gotten so used to using it as a means to escape her pain and her demons that no matter how wrong it felt she just couldn't help herself.

She woke up suddenly sensing she wasn't alone

"Ohh not again" she moaned, she would never tell anyone about this but sometimes escaping problems this way could cause other problems to resurface in vivid visions or dreams, apparently this time would be no different.

"Get out, whatever you are, whoever you are I don't want you here...please just let me be" she yelled, chucking a glass towards her door.

"You've gotten worse since the last time we met" a soft familiar voice stated through the darkness.

"No, not her, anyone but her" Emma thought not ready to face this individual just yet

"Ouch, words can hurt you know...but then again you never really cared about that in this state did you Emma?" the voice called out from a distance pretending to act hurt by her words, as a beautiful auburn haired girl with stunning emerald eyes came into view in front of her.

Emma stared at her taking in her presence, she was just as beautiful as she remembered even if she had been created by her drug and alcohol addled mind.

"What are you doing her Laura?, your supposed to be dead" Emma asked bluntly rubbing her eyes.

"Only physically...in your mind I'm as alive as ever" Laura replied calmly, Emma closed her eyes breathing heavily and shaking her head.

"No I can't... you can't be here right now I'm busy" she stuttered.

Laura scoffed, looking slightly amused by Emma's discomfort before walking around her room, tutting as she saw all the old glasses that had been filled with whiskey as well as a few bottles lying around on the floor.

"So why are you feeling guilty this time hmm?" Laura asked eyebrows raised, Emma looked up in shock as Laura just rolled her eyes "Come on Emma the only reason you get this drunk is if your feeling guilty about something, and judging by the state of you...your feeling terribly guilty about something" Laura deduced.

"Maybe I just wanted to see you" Emma replied gesturing to the empty boxes of pills that were littering her bedside table.

"Hmm nope not enough drugs in the mix for that to be the case, although I would be flattered if it was, huh funny Emma I'm starting to know your habits better than even you" Laura answered smugly, damn she was smart, much to Emma's annoyance "So what's gotten into you for this to happen hmm? Laura asked sitting on the other side of the bed next to Emma, if she weren't a vision Emma would have been able to feel her familiar warmth taking away the coldness she had grown so accustomed to.

"I don't think that's any of your business" Emma slurred, still feeling the effects of the alcohol.

"It never bothered you before" Laura remarked

"Yeah well that was before you were...dead" she whispered not being able to hold back the sob that escaped her. Laura reached out and cupped her cheek Emma leaned into the caress, momentarily forgetting she was a vision.

"What happened to you huh?... you used to be so carefree, so happy, where is that Emma now?, the one that I fell in love with?" she asked.

"Gone...she died with you Laura" Emma sniffled unable to control the tears that came streaming down her face.

"I don't think that's true, I think your afraid"

"Of what?"

"To love again, to let people in, to have a family again"

"No that's not it Laura, I had a family before...I loved once I let you in and look where it got you....you died because of me, I loved you, you were my family and I destroyed that" Emma responded sourly, forcing back the memories that were trying to bleed through.

"Wow, your always so dramatic, I forgot how much work you could be sometimes" Laura smirked before saying "I don't blame you for any of it you know, it wasn't your fault Emma"

"Jason took over from me, it was random and should never have happened and I let it anyway, and look what it got me" Emma growled.

"Yes you lost me and became a junkie" Laura replied, not in the mood to entertain her "At least try to deny it" she encouraged after a long silence

"How can I deny the truth?" Emma sighed "I'm feeling guilty because I may have just ruined my chance at having another family and I don't know how to fix it" Emma mumbled before settling her eyes on Laura's beautiful green eyes, feeling her hear skip a beat like it used to whenever Laura was with her. To Emma no one could ever compete with Laura's beauty and she still couldn't believe that out of all the people who held her affections Laura would be that person, and yet here she was. 

After beating all the odds they had pulled through and had been the happiest they had ever been, that was until Emma's alters became slightly more unstable and in a random bid for power, Jason had taken over the light and killed Laura in her sleep. Once Emma had been given the light again she remembered collapsing onto the floor cradling Laura in her arms waiting for the paramedics to arrive, crying uncontrollably and screaming until her throat was raw. Emma and the others had managed to suppress Jason to keep him out of the light but it did nothing to fix her broken heart which is why she drank and did drugs all while distancing herself from everyone to protect them.

That's when the visions came, people from her past came to haunt her and cursed her name and wished her dead, Laura was a frequent visitor back then but she had remained the same kind and compassionate person Emma had loved in life. Sadly this only fuelled her addictions as it gave her a chance to see her again, until one day instead of seeing her she found a note instead telling her that she needed to let go and move on with her life "Stop wasting your talents and get out there and help people" she had read which she had tried to before she had given up and slit her wrists.

when she woke up she vowed to try and live up to the promise she made to Laura, now she was putting that in jeopardy and she suspected that was why Laura was here now. 

"You know...you always did have an answer to my problems" Emma looked down trying to keep control of her emotions, Laura turned to face her and lifted her chin up to look her in the eye.

"Emma, I love you, I always have and always will...you are the bravest person I've ever known and unimaginably strong, qualities I always admired you for but this..." she whispered resting her palm over her heart "This is your strongest weapon, you care so much and that's what gives you the strength to carry on and is the reason you'll never give up not even now, and is the reason I love you" 

Emma took Laura's hand in hers before looking at her with watery blue eyes and a weak smile

"Thank you Laura I...I wish you were here with me"

"I am always with you Emma, in your heart, now please go and save your new family" she pleaded. As Emma nodded she slowly leaned back getting ready to leave and suddenly the thought of being alone was too much for Emma.

"Laura" she called as she watched her turn back to look at her "Could you stay with me a little longer, I...I don't want to lose you just yet" she pleaded.

Laura smiled as she nodded and climbed back on the bed with Emma laying down next her as they held each other close, neither of them saying a word and just savouring the feeling of being together for the last time. Suddenly Laura reached out and kissed Emma on the lips which she gladly returned, staying like that for as long as they could before Emma succumbed to the call to sleep.

"I love you Laura" Emma whispered

"I love you too Emma, goodnight" Laura replied and before long Emma was fast asleep


	50. Bad influence

Casey and Dennis had woken up together still cuddled up next to each other, they both looked up at one another and a smile graced both of their faces as Dennis planted a small kiss on her forehead.

"Good morning" he said, his voice husky from the deep sleep he had had

"Morning" Casey replied yawning before resting her head on his shoulder, Dennis leaned his head on hers, moving his hand up and down her arm as the other one took her hand tightly. They stayed like that for a few minutes enjoying the peace whilst it lasted.

"I wish we could stay like this forever" Casey mumbled into his shoulder, Dennis smiled sadly

"Me too" he replied quietly "Maybe...one day when all this crazy shit is sorted we can" he mused, imagining what it would be like to make time for each other without worrying about cops, agents or alters getting in the way.

"I look forward to that day" Casey hummed kissing Dennis slowly, he was slightly surprised by it at first but he slowly recovered enough to return it leaning back onto the bed as Casey pushed him lower down until she was straddling him, watching his eyes widen as she broke away and stared down at him.

"Well this is different" he commented clearing his throat and feeling his face burn bright red.

"Good different or bad different" Casey asked her hands moving up his chest and settling on his shoulders before leaning down to kiss him again, as his hands travelled up her sides to her back groaning softly as he did.

"Oh it's definitely good" he smiled up at her his eyes full of lust just as much as hers. Casey hummed as she made her way down to his neck sucking at the skin there making Dennis hiss.

She kissed her way down his body making her way down to his already hardening cock. He groaned as Casey paused for a really long time.

"What's wrong Dennis?" She asked innocently knowing what she was doing to him

"What your doing is driving me crazy, are you gonna torture me like this for long?" he asked, his voice deep which turned Casey on more as she laughed at his response before she slowly made her way to his cock and started licking the head slowly making Dennis's hips jerk forward.

"Uhh fuck Casey" Dennis moaned breathlessly as she began sucking on it, just as he was approaching his climax she slid her mouth of off his cock encouraging a disappointed grunt to escape him, until she straddled him again quickly sliding it inside of her leaving him breathless as she started rocking back and forth.

He cupped one of her breasts pinching the nipple as it got harder making her moan as the other hand started rubbing on her clit causing Casey to groan loudly as well. Before Casey knew it Dennis had flipped them over and was now thrusting into her deeply as they both reached their climaxes her shortly before him.

They were both trembling afterwards trying to catch their breath

"You know if you wanted to be on top you could have just asked" Dennis smirked as Casey rolled her eyes at him playfully before chuckling, Dennis huffed out a laugh to before kissing her forehead "Seriously though what made you want to do that?" Dennis asked curiously.

"I..I don't know really...I guess I wanted to do something for you this time" Casey said shyly and Dennis nodded not pushing it "Or maybe it's just because your such a terrible influence" she joked and Dennis grinned.

"Well I'm sorry I've caused you to become such a mess I mean look at you I can't even tell what your gonna do next" Dennis answered lightheartedly, Casey smiled up at him as he placed a hand on her abdomen stroking the scars that marked the skin lightly "I'd just thought that after everything you went through...you wouldn't want to try anything like this with anyone" Dennis murmured.

Casey stilled his hand staring into her eyes he could see the pain of the past reflected in them as she answered truthfully.

"I never thought I'd want anything intimate with anyone you're right about that, I thought they would judge me because of my scars or I was afraid that they would be just like my uncle, I never assumed I would find someone as kind, caring and understanding as you Dennis" 

Dennis smiled before going down to kiss each scar before saying "I think your scars are beautiful" in a lust filled voice.

"I know you do" Casey replied stroking his head as he resumed lying next to her, the feel of her soft fingers in his hair making him doze off. For a few minutes they were in their own little bubble not having to care about anything just like their little daydream earlier on until they heard banging on the door and a familiar voice yelling through the door.

"Come on lovebirds time to get up, something big is happening and I need you bright eyed and bushy tailed" Emma yelled in a strained calm sort of voice

"Why what's going on?" Dennis asked

"Just get ready and come downstairs, I'll explain everything later" she replied before she walked back downstairs to wait for them.


	51. Making a move

As soon as they came downstairs they knew something was definitely wrong, Emma was shaking with either fear or rage they couldn't tell and she was pacing around the sitting room breathing heavily her eyes closed as she tried to get a grip on her emotions.

Dennis and Casey stepped into the room anxious about what they were going to hear

"Took your bloody time!" she exclaimed as she saw them, she looked rough and her voice sounded like she'd been eating gravel, her bloodshot eyes glaring at them.

"What's wrong Emma?" Casey asked as she watched her friend pace up and down the room with her hands behind her back.

"For weeks now I've been waiting for my brother and Stevens to make some sort of move which would give away what they are up to...they've been silent for the most part until now" Emma replied her hands trembling as she held out her phone"Watch this you'll see what I mean" she spoke angrily as she handed her phone to Dennis.

Once he had the phone Dennis pressed play on the video that was displayed and what they saw made their hearts sink, David Dunn had been captured and was now tied up on the floor, he looked unconscious as he was hardly moving.

"Well, well, well, did you miss me?, I expect that you did...it must be extremely boring for you at the moment just languishing away...drinking yourself to death." Stevens smiled evilly down the camera before moving away from the camera slightly "Well as you can see we have your friend here, so much for the Unbreakable man he was quite easy to take down in the end...but your probably wondering why we took him, well Emma, it seems that you and your friends require a certain type of incentive so thanks to your brother we have done just that...I hope your ready because I will only be saying this once" he chuckled before clearing his throat.

"If you want to save your friend meet us at the old railway station..you'll understand why I'm sure, if not your there are several bombs located at different areas in the city..if you don't show up I'll let them blow up and you will be responsible for the deaths of hundreds of innocent lives" Stevens promised revealing the detonator in his hands.

"I know that you won't let that happen so I'm sure we will see each other very soon, oh and I do hope that you will do better than last time...I'd hate for the fight to be over too quickly" Stevens smirked "Until the next time farewell freaks" he replied turning away from the camera as the video stopped.

There was a long silence as Dennis and Casey took in what they had seen, they both jumped when Emma hit the wall to her right yelling as she did it.

"Emma!" Casey exclaimed running towards her, noticing her deep breathing "Calm down" 

"He's trying to take everything from me" Emma growled as she knelt on the floor crying

"Emma please listen to me" Casey pleaded kneeling down to face her and placing her hands on her shoulders "He hasn't taken everything away, we're still here and David's still alive, we will find a way to fix this I promise" she said defiantly bringing Emma into a hug

"He's the closest thing I have to a father...I can't lose him too" Emma sniffled

"You won't I promise" Casey answered as Dennis joined them on the floor placing a comforting hand on Emma's shoulder.

"Emma...before you and Casey came into my life...I had nothing, no family, no one to care about me, I just had the others and Kevin and even they didn't always care about me, but now I have two incredibly strong and amazing people in my life that have become my family, I wanna help you feel the same way and make your family whole as well, but we can't do this without you and you don't have to do this alone cos we're here for you" Emma pulled away from Casey to look at both of them and smiled, a proper genuine smile for the first time in ages.

"Thank you guys, so much, I don't know where would I be without you right now" she said rubbing the tears away from her eyes and putting on a brave face.

"So are you in?" Casey asked her

"Well I got nothing better to do I suppose...Hell yeah I'm in, let's go and settle this once and for all" Emma answered, jumping up and heading upstairs to get ready.

Casey and Dennis stood up as well watching Emma run up the stairs before turning to face each other both wearing concerned faces.

"She's been drinking again hasn't she?" Casey mumbled, reaching out to hold his hand

"It would appear so" Dennis sighed tightening his grip on her hand

"I thought she was getting better" Casey replied dejectedly 

"Give her time, that's all it takes when trying to get over something like this, she will get better I know it" Dennis assured her reaching out to hold her.

"Do you think it's a good idea to take her to Stevens...I mean he has caused her so much pain, what if it makes her worse not better?"

"We all have to face our demons eventually, besides I don't think we have much of a choice, if we don't all show I don't know if Stevens will live up to his threat and set those bombs off or not" Dennis answered "What ever happens we'll still be together" he added noticing the troubled look on Casey's face before bringing her in for a kiss, making Casey forget all her problems and everything that was worrying her. 

They broke away and Dennis stared into her eyes

"No matter what happens, I am so glad you followed me home that night" Casey whispered and Dennis chuckled 

"Yeah it was totally worth me getting stabbed" Dennis said sarcastically as Casey giggled reaching out to cup his face

"That was your fault as I recall" she answered before bringing him in for one more kiss "I love you so much"

"I love you too" Dennis answered deeply holding her small body in his arms as they waited for Emma to come back down.


	52. Trapped

Dennis, Casey and Emma had travelled in silence the whole way up, the tension was thick with apprehension of not knowing what they would face when they went in there. Emma had come fully prepared with some sort of body armour, it was a sleek black and was very flexible, she had explained that she had "forgotten" to give it back to the FBI after she was discharged but it would offer her protection from most knives and firearms which was the reason for bringing it along with her.

"Besides if I'm gonna go down I want to make sure I look like a bad-ass when I do" Emma had joked before getting a stern look from both Dennis and Casey "Not the right time?...huh aren't you guys fun company" Emma had smirked before driving off.

Now they were nearing their destination Dennis in particular was becoming noticeably more agitated, Casey placed a hand on top of his which was shaking, he smiled weakly grateful for the comfort she was offering him 

"Emma?" Casey asked

"Mmm" Emma hummed 

"Do we actually have a plan?" 

"Umm....no not really" she replied parking her car outside the entrance to the railway station

"What do you mean you don't have a plan?" Dennis asked

"Look I'm not gonna lie...I don't even know what we're gonna be up against, there I said it...I could have come up with any number of plans, scenarios and options but it wouldn't change the most obvious fact that we still don't know what to expect" she explained

"So we're going in there with practically nothing" Casey answered

"Nah I wouldn't say that" Emma said confidently 

"So what are we going in with then?" 

"Hope, Casey we're going in with hope and from experience I can honestly say that that is worth any type of army Stevens might have in there" she replied before adding "you ready?" 

"God no, but I'm ready to make Stevens pay, so that's a start" Dennis answered making Emma chuckle as she got out of the car.

"This is insane" Casey exclaimed, Dennis turned to face her

"Yeah it's not how I pictured spending my day either" he responded and Casey let out a weak laugh at that

"Oh really and how else would you rather spend your day than hmm?" she asked teasingly 

"Well if we make it through this I'd really like to show you" Dennis smirked at her dumbfounded expression before kissing her chastely on the lips 

"Well we better make it out of this then" she whispered making Dennis chuckle before there was a knock on the door 

"Hey lovebirds you can kiss when the fighting's over..get out of the bloody car" Emma yelled completely ruining the moment

"One day I'm going to make you regret every time you've done that" Dennis warned Emma

"Ha, ha, oh I don't doubt that" Emma smirked as she loaded one of her pistols before walking towards the entrance "Okay...so once we step into this place, I have no idea what we'll be dealing with and we may not make it back, I just want to tell you guys that I am truly thankful that I met you...you've made me feel the happiest I've felt in a long time" she smiled at them which they gladly returned before she shook her head "Right enough of this soppy crap time to kick some ass" she said deeply before spinning on her heels and entering the old railway station.

There was always something eerie about this place, all the old trains had been abandoned and were falling apart which added to the already spooky effect of the place. Emma had stopped and was suddenly drawn to a certain train on the end track.

"Hey" she whispered to get Dennis's attention pointing to the train "I don't know why but I feel like we should check that one out.. I feel kinda drawn to it for some reason" she said 

"Okay we'll go check it out" Dennis whispered back 

Emma nodded before turning around and walking towards the train, taking her pistol out as she did until she got as close to the door as she could and crouched on the floor.

"So what's the plan?" Dennis asked crouching down next to her

"Umm, I go in first then you next, Casey you can stand guard out here in case something happens, how's that?" She asked 

"It's as good as anything I suppose" Dennis replied nodding his head 

"Yes...my sentiments exactly, here you might need this" she said handing him another pistol "In case of an emergency" Emma explained noticing his reluctance at taking the gun, which he nodded to before taking the gun "You ready?" she asked 

"After you" Dennis answered, Emma grinned at that before stepping inside the old train, Dennis waited a few seconds before stepping inside as well.

Dennis had to physically control the urge to start cleaning, the train was so dusty it made it hard to breath without it tickling your nose, the floor was not much better and all the seats were worn out and falling apart, in short this was Dennis's worse nightmare.

"Are you sure this is the right train?" he asked Emma doubtfully

"I dunno yet, I just felt drawn to it...maybe we should spread out check the rest of the train out, you go until you reach the back, I'll go to the front meet her in five minutes yeah" Emma suggested

"Yeah okay and if we don't find anything we get out of here" he answered as they both turned and started walking towards either end, as soon as Dennis reached his end of the carriage, there was a loud creak and suddenly the door on his side slammed shut trapping them both on opposite sides, they both ran towards the door trying to get it to open but it wouldn't budge, Emma hit the door out of frustration and was about to speak to him until she heard a voice behind her.

"Well, well, well, look who decided to show up at last" Stevens deep voice came from behind her, she turned to face him and saw him holding Casey at gun point "Now let's not try anything rash here Emma...we wouldn't want anything to happen to poor Casey now would we?" he asked, Dennis was growling in anger as he slammed his whole body against the door, yelling Casey's name.

"Neither do you Stevens, because if anything happens to her, if I don't get to you first he definitely will" Emma responded

"Oh don't worry he'll have bigger things to worry about" Stevens reassured as he gestured for Emma to turn around and watch.

On the opposite side of the door Dennis watched helplessly as Stevens held Casey hostage at gun point. All of a sudden the lights came to life, momentarily blinding him until his eyes adjusted to the light revealing David Dunn at the other end of the carriage.

"David?" he asked

"Dennis...what the hell is going on in here?" David stammered looking just as confused 

Before he could answer a small television came to life and Elijah Price's face appeared on the screen, giving everyone on board a sense of dread as he opened his mouth to speak, Dennis realised they had fallen into a trap with no chance of escape.


	53. Broken Alliance

"Good evening, so glad you could join us" Elijah spoke 

"What do you want Elijah?" David shouted at the screen

"I just wanted to talk to some like-minded company for once, do you like the location...I know you'll recognise it David, this is where all of our stories began" Elijah said smugly.

"What the hell are you talking about?" David asked getting frustrated with Elijah's riddles, Elijah leaned forward studying him before laughing hysterically.

"My, my you don't recognise it do you?" he mused savouring the confusion David was feeling "This is what's left of the train that you were on fifteen years ago, the one that crashed killing everyone on board except you, where you started your first steps to become the man you are known as today, the Unbreakable man" 

"This is also the train where you killed hundreds of innocent people just to prove some stupid theory" David lashed out as he started shaking with anger.

"No David they were a necessary sacrifice to push you to discover who you were, to unlock your potential and to discover who you really are" Elijah argued "But that is not why we're here, I didn't bring you all the way out here to reminisce on the past"

"Then why are we here?" Dennis piped in 

"Ahh I'm glad you asked Master Crumb...I'm here to prove that even the toughest alliances can be broken"

"And how do you propose to do that?" Dennis asked not liking where this subject was going, Elijah smiled before answering.

"Tell me Master Crumb...what do you know of your father?" he asked 

"My father?" Dennis huffed out a hollow laugh, this was one subject he completely despised talking about "My father left me with an unstable drunk woman who used to torture me for years...if it weren't for me Kevin, our host, would have ended his life a long time ago, so don't even think about asking me about our father" Dennis spat.

"Do you know where he is now?" Elijah pressed 

"Do you not understand what the term abandoned means...I don't know or care about where he is right now...if he truly cared about us he wouldn't have left in the first place" 

"You might after watching this" Elijah promised before he pressed a key and disappeared from the screen being replaced with old security footage, which appeared to be in a hospital, intrigued Dennis moved closer to the screen.

The footage showed a younger David Dunn sat on a bed with a doctor asking him questions, next to him was a bed where a young man with dark hair and a large bleeding wound was struggling to stay alive, nurses were working hard to try and save him but the damage was too severe. Dennis felt a familiar tug towards this man and he wasn't sure why, something about him felt familiar, like a memory trying to resurface after being buried for so long.

Suddenly the man's vitals started to drop and his breathing became harder to spot as the red on his shirt became darker as it spread before he suddenly became still, the monitors beeping silently as they signalled the end of his life. The doctors tried to save him but after three attempts with a defibrillator and doing CPR for twenty minutes they reluctantly gave up.

"Time of death 9:03 pm, injuries were a severe crack in the skull and a deep laceration located on the abdomen and finishing just below the sternum, name of patient is Joseph Wendell Crumb" the doctors continued but Dennis had collapsed on the floor, breathing heavily as he tried to recover from the shock of what he had just heard.

"Dennis are you alright?" he heard David ask and he couldn't control the anger he felt as he spoke,looking at David with a look of hurt and rage.

"You let him die...you were in that room and you just watched as my father died, how could you be so selfish...so self absorbed...why didn't you do anything?" Dennis whispered in a cold voice, David held his hands up in surrender as he tried to diffuse his anger.

"Dennis I didn't know alright...I was dazed and confused, I had no idea he was your father...I'm sorry" Dennis just scoffed at that 

"Sorry...my father died and left me with that bitch of a mother...you saw what I had to endure and you did nothing when you first saw me and now this" Dennis hissed as his hands clenched into fists, before his eyes snapped shut and someone else started talking.

"I warned you about these impures Dennis, I told you they were not to be trusted and yet you denied it, I hope this is evidence enough for you" Patricia's soft tone said triumphantly.

"He killed our father" Dennis cried, his anger becoming harder to control

"And now it is time for him to pay" The Beast growled "Say the word Dennis and I will make him pay" he promised.

"Dennis crouched on the floor as he seemed to be battling against his need for revenge and his moral compass, sensing his internal turmoil Patricia spoke up again 

"Where was he when we needed saving in the past, he said so himself he saw what we went through and he still shrugged us off, he needs to be taught a lesson and what better time than now...say yes to The Beast, let him suffer all you have to do is say yes" she pressed, feeling Dennis's sorrow cut through the last bit of resolve he had left.

He heaved a sigh before he spoke in a dark tone 

"Alright Patricia, you and The Beast win, he killed our father and left us for dead, he doesn't know of our pain, our suffering...let's show him how it feels to be on the receiving end of that fear"

And with that Dennis hunched over, groaning as his arms started shaking as he allowed The Beast to take full control over his body, the last thing he remembered hearing was , Mr Glass's triumphant laughs erupting from the speakers on the television before The Beast took control of the light.

The Beast stared directly at David, fury clear in his black eyes.

"You have been apart of our suffering for too long and now it is time for you to die" he yelled as he lunged towards David.


	54. Sweet Revenge

Emma had watched in horror as Dennis gave The Beast the light, and started pounding on the door, pushing against it as hard as she could but it wouldn't budge.

"David" she yelled as she hit the door, she turned to Stevens who was still holding Casey at gunpoint, had a knowing smile plastered on his face "What have you done?" she growled at him charging towards him, pulling her pistol out of it's holster and aiming it at him.

"Ah, ah I wouldn't come any closer Emma, unless you want to clean up Miss Cooke's brains after I've blown them out" he warned, pointing his gun closer to her head, Emma's rage increased as he did this, but she tried to keep a calm composure.

"You must think yourself pretty tough, hiding behind a young woman like that huh" Emma replied smugly 

"No Emma, but she is the only thing that is standing in the way of a bullet should you choose to shoot me" Stevens answered "Besides it looks like you have bigger problems right now, lower your gun" he ordered.

Emma shook her head, her grip on the pistol tightening so much her hands were shaking and her jaw was clenched, she could do it, she so wanted to pull the trigger and kill him. 

"Emma don't do it" Casey whispered, begging her to put the gun down, Emma locked her eyes onto Casey's her resolve fading a little bit before she spoke again "Emma if you do this you will be no better than him" 

That hit Emma hard, Casey was right, if she did this would she really be any better than Stevens, Elijah or any of the other people who had tormented her in the past. Emma lowered her pistol to the ground before dropping it on the floor, looking down at the floor.

"Always so weak, how you got a job as an agent I'll never know Emma" Stevens chuckled before aiming the gun at her and pulling the trigger, hitting Emma square in the chest, watching her body fall to the ground.

"No" Casey cried, before being pulled back by Stevens

"Shut up" he snarled before slapping her across the face, making her head swing violently to the side "Now it's your turn" he said before pushing her violently onto the floor and aiming the pistol at her head.

Casey stared at Emma who was lying on the floor lifeless, hoping for a miracle to save her from this mess, her thoughts turned to her last moments with Dennis and the regret she felt in not telling him the news that had been bothering her for a while now, until she heard the cock of the gun signalling that her life was running on precious seconds.

"You know it's a shame you two met, people who stick with Emma always end up going down the same route take Laura for example, any last words?" Stevens asked in a menacing voice

"Your wrong about Emma Stevens, as long as she see's the good in you she will always be willing to fight for you and that is why she will always have my back, and I have no regrets about meeting someone who is ten times the person you could ever hope to be" Casey spat back.

"A shame that faith in her is about to get you killed, goodbye Miss Cooke" Stevens replied with a smirk.

Before he could pull the trigger a dark blur went past Casey's face and tackled him to the ground, Casey turned to see who it was and with a sigh of relief realized it was Emma, the armor had done it's job. 

Emma was using Stevens momentary shock to basically beat the shit out of him, she was a pure animal, letting go of her anger and dealing punch after punch until his face was a bloody mess, his jaw practically hanging off, Emma gave him a particularly nasty blow which broke his nose before she grabbed his knife from his pocket and drove it into his shoulder.

Stevens let out a loud scream then as he felt the freshly sharpened steel shred through his skin, before Emma dragged it out slowly to increase the pain he had to endure.

"That was for all the suffering you made me endure in that prison" she growled before stabbing him again in the other shoulder "This is for the stress you made my family endure and this...this is for every bad word you said about Laura" she whispered before picking up his gun and pointing it to his head.

"Wait Emma, please show mercy" he begged genuine fear appearing on his face as he stared into her fiery eyes "You know this isn't what Laura would want" 

Emma growled as she lowered the gun closer to his head before speaking in a menacing and dark tone

"No but it is what I want and since Laura's not here anymore your all out of options I'm afraid" 

Stevens started whimpering before he heard Emma's finger starting to pull the trigger 

"Emma wait" he cried before the shot went of and his body fell lifelessly to the ground.

Emma stood up breathing heavily and throwing the gun away before turning away from the grisly scene, which she had caused, her hands trembling with the aftermath as she faced Casey whose face had gone pale.

"Are you alright?" she asked, Casey nodded before Emma noticed a few tears make their way down her face "I'm sorry you had to see that" she sighed looking down in embarrassment at her actions.

"No Emma it's not that...I mean it was unexpected but after what he did he deserved everything he got" she replied, Emma winced at that not feeling too sure on that, sure he had been a huge pain in the ass but Emma wasn't completely sure he deserved such a brutal death, she shook her head not able to think about it right now but she was sure her decision today would haunt her for the rest of her days.

"Okay what is it that's bothering you?" She asked before they were interrupted with a scream coming from the other carriage, they both looked at each other with concerned faces.

"Maybe we'll talk about it later" Casey suggested

"Sounds good to me" Emma replied before they both got up and raced to the door to face what was going on in the next carriage.


	55. Weakened

David had managed to catch The Beast's clenched fist in his hand before the toll of another nightmarish vision made his knees buckle as he collapsed to the floor screaming.

The vision was of The Beast hunting, they were in a field, the cold biting at his exposed torso as he inhaled the crisp air filling his nose whilst he hunted for fresh prey. He did this a few more times before his sense of smell picked up on something, The Beast bounded in the direction of the scent and was not disappointed. Surrounding a small fire was a small group of young boys and girls, probably out camping, The Beast climbed a tree and crouched on a branch that was directly above them to get a better look at his catch, one of them was telling one of those stupid scary stories to the others.

The lad had just finished telling his story as he jumped out and screamed at the others who screamed back in terror as he laughed at there reactions, they all groaned feeling embarrassed by their reactions.

"That wasn't funny" one of the girls moaned at him 

"You should have seen your faces" he cried as he went around impersonating them, before he was tripped over by one of the other boys and landed with a thud on the floor causing everyone else to laugh.

"Well now that your done scaring us I think it's time we got some sleep...we have a long walk ahead of us tomorrow so we'll need our sleep" he replied standing up from the log they were sat on.

The Beast moved closer to the edge of the branch he was standing in getting ready to jump down and attack the impures until one of the branches snapped a little bit causing the whole group to pause with fear.

"What was that?" the girl asked 

"I dunno it sounded like a twig snapping" one of the older kids was saying he turned to face the others before saying "Okay you guys stay by the tents I'm gonna check out what that sound was"

"Be careful" the girl said which he smiled at before switching on his torch and disappearing into the darkness.He was only gone a few seconds until they heard a scream and the sound of his torch breaking, the others froze in shock as a tall, muscular man appeared from the shadows covered in blood, his veins popping up all over his body and he had a manic grin which had blood dripping from his teeth.

They all gasped before The Beast approached them

"Who are you, what do you want?" the girl spoke up and The Beast stared at her intensely before chuckling

"That is of none of your concern insignificant girl, as for what I want I want you" The Beast stated

"What do you mean by that" she asked, The Beast strode over to her 

"I need your flesh" he whispered and before she could respond The Beast grabbed her by the arm and bit down onto her neck, ripping off the flesh before swallowing, allowing the blood to drench his face and dropping her on the floor before stalking the other kids who were running away, screaming.

Every time The Beast caught another victim and sunk his teeth into their skin, tearing them apart, the weaker David became, he could feel the pain of each injury The Beast caused these innocent children, the sheer terror as their lives were taken from them so carelessly and it made him feel sick as he collapsed on the floor, shaking his head to escape from the haunting vision. The Beast hit him hard on the head causing him to roll on the floor as he tried to stumble away from him.

"You reek of fear" The Beast mused as he leaned on one of the seats making it lean forward as he pushed his entire weight on it "Those children were weak and impure they were never going to become like us, their potential was limited so they never really mattered"

"And what about their families, the people they loved...did they not matter to them" David asked making The Beast's face darken 

"You never thought about that when you saw Kevin's father dying on a hospital bed next to you" he growled 

"I couldn't save him, I'm sorry I know your life would have been so much better if I had" David cried.

"You ignored us again after our paths crossed again at that station" The Beast pointed out

"I didn't know about my powers then...I'm sorry, I truly am...I would have saved you all if I knew" David sobbed

"Always an excuse with you impures, you all claim your so self righteous and yet you have caused more damage than anyone else here, this is why we hate you" The Beast snarled, before grabbing David's throat and pinning him to a wall "I could beat you all day but alas that won't cause any long lasting damage to you will it?...luckily your friend Elijah Price was very helpful in divulging to me your biggest weakness, even better I know where to find it" The Beast purred before punching the nearby window and dragging David outside with him, to a nearby pond close to the train station and chucking David down next to him.

As soon as he saw the pond David started trying to back away from it, only to have The Beast grab him by the collar and knocking his head to the ground.

"This is where you die, Unbreakable man, you only have yourself to blame for this, although you can blame your "friend"Elijah Price for your demise, after all if it wasn't for him telling me, we would never have found out"

"Why are you doing this?...you know Mr Glass is doing this just to tear us apart, he's the real enemy here" David argued

"I'm sorry Mr Dunn, a long time ago we may have believed you, after his betrayal...unfortunately you have caused more pain for us than Glass has and now it is time for you to die" The Beast stated before dragging David to the water and planting him head first underwater, causing him to start drowning.

David tried to bring his head back up to the surface and only succeeded long enough to gasp in a long breath of air before The Beast's large, strong hand brought his head back under the water. David tried to hold onto his breath for as long as he could until it became too much, the first gulp of water hit him and he slowly started losing consciousness, his last thought was hoping that Emma had survived her encounter with Stevens, otherwise his last hope had been snuffed out before he fell into darkness, the fight leaving his body as he gave into his fate.


	56. Emma's choice

Emma had seen where The Beast had taken David and was now loading up every weapon she had in order to prepare herself, until Elijah's voice sounded on Steven's radio.

"Stevens, the plan has worked, meet at the rendezvous point" his voice crackled, after waiting for a response for a while he spoke again "Stevens do you read me, are you there...Stevens?" 

Emma fished the radio off of Stevens belt buckle before pushing the button on the side down to talk.

"You set us up, you son of a bitch, what the hell have you done now?" Emma growled 

"Emma?...wow I didn't expect you to survive" Elijah mused

"You can piss right off with your niceties Elijah and just tell me what you've done to Dennis?" Emma replied

"My your in a bad mood today, I just showed your friend the truth about his father...did you know he was on the same train as David before he died, he was brought to the same hospital before he died...funny how small a world we live in eh Emma" he chuckled.

Emma lowered the radio slightly staring at Casey 

"If he really did show Dennis that then it would explain why he gave the light to The Beast voluntarily" Casey determined

"This was your plan all along wasn't it Elijah?...find some juicy bit of information to lure him in and then use that to turn him against the one person who could possibly stand against him...David Dunn"

"Of course, how else would I be able to get rid of two unbeatable superhuman, I'm obviously too weak to do it myself and you played right into my plan"

"What plan, what are you talking about?" Emma asked impatiently 

"I wish I were here in person to see the look on your face when you realise...who else do you think tipped you off about the case?" Elijah asked

"You were in the asylum you couldn't possibly....the unknown number...that was you?" 

"Of course, all it takes is one rogue FBI agent to allow me to tip you off and lo and behold all I had to do was wait until your paths all crossed...I knew I could count on you to bring everyone together, in the end Emma you were the ultimate piece in this game of chess I've been playing" 

"This whole time I was just doing what I thought was right to protect my family....and all this time I've been a pawn in your stupid game" Emma's jaw clenched as she said this as her hand was practically crushing the radio

"Indeed, you were apart of this the very moment you took on the case and you did your role perfectly...I couldn't have done it better myself" Elijah stated.

Emma started pacing along the carriage becoming increasingly more angry as the conversation went on

"Listen here you piece of shit...after I save David and stop The Beast, I'm gonna hunt you down and I'm gonna kill you too just as I did with your little lapdog" she said menacingly, Casey stared at her in shock, Emma had never willingly threatened someone with death before and this put her more on edge.

"You best get a move on then because I'm not planning on sticking around in fact I will be leaving in about ten minutes time which is roughly about as much time as you have to save David" 

"Where are you planning on going?" Emma growled

"Somewhere away from here...far away where I can disappear forever"

"That'll never happen" Emma replied "I'm coming after you tonight" she promised

"Hmm whatever you say Emma but then again you have a choice here...you can find me and finish your quest for revenge if that's what you want but you will lose your family in the process or you can save David and rescue your little family and let me go...it's up to you at the end of the day but you can only choose one, I look forward to seeing which one you choose but for now goodbye Emma, hopefully we'll never meet again" he ended the conversation and severed the communication on his side of the radio.

"No, no, no" Emma shouted as she threw the radio at the wall where it shattered as she breathed heavily her teeth gritted together.

"Emma...we're still going to save them aren't we?" Casey piped up, Emma looked at her as she tried calming down.

"If Elijah gets away I'll never forgive myself" Emma muttered, Casey walked over to her and looked up at her with determination in her eye.

"And if you give up on your family just to quench some thirst for vengeance than I can promise that I will never forgive you" Casey told her bluntly

"Casey...please don't say that" Emma cried 

"Just answer me this Emma is he really worth Dennis's exile, David's life because if the answer is yes then you don't deserve them" 

"Your right...this is exactly what Elijah wants...he wants me to leave you guys and sacrifice the last bit of good I have left in this world, well you know what? he can keep dreaming I've already lost one family...I won't lose a second one" she replied 

Casey smiled at that and ran to hug her 

"Now let's get them back yeah" she replied

"Yeah let's do that" Emma answered 

"Right let's go" Casey said jumping out of the train carriage through the once guarded door, Emma chased after her grabbing her arm.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, where do you think your going?" Emma asked sternly

"To Dennis" Casey answered slightly confused 

"No,no,no, I want you to stay here you'll be safer here" Emma argued 

"What Emma I'm not gonna standby whilst Dennis is in trouble...you know that's not me"

"Look, I'm not doing this out of spite, I'm doing this to protect you...both of you" Emma answered her eyes flitted to her abdomen for a moment before going back up to meet Casey's shocked expression.

"How long have you known?" Casey whispered

"Right from the start, I am a detective Casey I can figure stuff like this out quite quickly you know" Emma replied "Does he know?" she asked and Casey shook her head, Emma sighed "Well I better make sure I get him back then for that reason alone" Emma answered.

"Just promise me you'll bring them both back" Casey pleaded

"I will I promise" Emma promised whilst squeezing her shoulder comfortingly before setting off to rescue David and to bring back Dennis.


	57. Awake

Inside Kevin's head 

Dennis was pacing up and down, still angry about the news he had received this evening, how could he have been so stupid and put his trust in someone like that, he was pure and therefore couldn't be trusted, every time he put his trust in someone he always ended up getting hurt or used and he had had enough.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to face Patricia who was smiling sweetly at him

"What do you want Patricia?" he asked, Patricia raised her hand and slapped his cheek

"Don't be rude Dennis, I'm just here to tell you how proud we are of you for swearing your allegiance to The Beast once again, despite all your previous...mistakes you have proven yourself loyal to us and our cause and for that we are truly grateful"

"It seemed like I didn't have much choice, you were right about him the whole time and I ignored your judgement and look what it brought us...more pain" Dennis muttered

"And now you've learnt your lesson haven't you, we've been very patient with you Dennis so I do hope this will be the end of all your shenanigans after all The Beast's patience with you has been wearing a little bit thin for a while now and I'd hate for you to put to sleep more permanently this time" Patricia replied.

"Was that a threat?" Dennis asked eyes narrowed 

"Not at all, just take into consideration that The Beast will not tolerate anymore rebellious acts on your part and neither will I" she warned in a soft voice filed with malice.

Their conversation was put on hold when everyone heard a powerful shout from outside

"Dennis!" Emma's voice called 

"She's a persistent one isn't she?" Patricia stated in annoyance as Dennis said nothing except marvel at Emma's courage or stupidity, why did she have to put herself in danger all the time for him, he wasn't worth it and he just couldn't fathom why Emma would risk her life for his.

"So the infamous detective has come to die as well" The Beast growled 

"Oh no I don't plan on dying tonight...you on the other hand" Emma replied confidently, The Beast's rage could be felt everywhere and it made Dennis want to curl up in a ball and hide, Patricia however just stood tall and proud as a look of distaste graced her face before she turned to Dennis.

"You will bear witness to this, I hope her death serves as a reminder of what meddling in our plans will cost you" she mumbled coldly.

"Patricia she's pure why are you doing this?" Dennis asked

"She may be pure but we have had enough of her interfering with our plans"

"Please don't kill her...let me talk to her I..I'll convince her to leave, to never bother us again I swear" he begged, he couldn't let Emma die, Casey would never forgive him if she lost the only friend either of them had had.

Patricia just chuckled before answering "I'm sorry Dennis but the time for democracy has passed, she must die for our plan to succeed" she said calmly before walking away.

Dennis collapsed on the floor tears falling down his face, he couldn't let this happen not to Emma.

"Wow that convo sounded intense" Barry's voice sounded as he leaned forward in his chair 

"Yeah you do know some of us are trying to sleep over here" Jade's fiery voice echoed 

"Or read" Orwell's quiet moan agreed as a book snapped closed.

Dennis wiped his tears away quickly, trying not to give the others any ammunition to tease him before facing them.

"Wait Dennis were you crying?" Jade smirked

"I dunno what your talking about" he replied 

"Aww the big guy's got a heart after all" Barry chuckled as he stood up from his chair "Dennis what's going on we were all trying to hold back The Beast and then you voluntarily gave him the light why?" Barry asked concerned.

"The man David Dunn was with our father when he died, he died and David did nothing" Dennis growled his fists clenched again.

"Hey take it easy big guy relax, look I kinda understand why you gave him the light,you and mum never got along and what we saw of our father...I know you got on well with him, but revenge isn't a good thing Dennis, it feels good now but it will eat you up inside and make you feel like shit...I don't want that for you" Barry told him.

"They're gonna kill Emma, we need to stop them" Dennis muttered 

"Well I did as you asked and most of us have decided to help you out, Hedwig has proven to be a bit of a struggle, Pat seems to have him wrapped around her finger annoyingly, I can't get close to the kid without him running away" he explained

"Let me handle Hedwig" Dennis suggested 

"Sure if you think you can talk sense to the kid go for it"

Emma's scream echoed around them 

"You son of a bitch" she screamed before what felt like a headbutt caused Barry and Dennis to fall over as the whole room shook.

"Huh reminds me of schooldays when you took on all those bullies" Barry remembered and Dennis smirked at that.

"Wh what the was that?" a small broken voice responded from the corner of the room, Dennis and Barry froze in shock simultaneously looking in the direction of the voice, seeing a small, hunched over young man walking cautiously over to them.

"Kevin" they both said at the same time as their host made their way towards them giving them a small smile 

"Hey guys, what did I miss?"


	58. Fight together

Emma had just nailed The Beast with a particularly nasty headbutt which had made him stagger away from her slightly causing him to become disorientated. She took this as an opportunity to accomplish pulling David out of the water completely and laying him on his side, feeling relieved when she found a faint but steady pulse, she slipped a gun into his hand before checking out the chunk of flesh The Beast had torn out completely just above her shoulder, It hurt needless to say 

"I really hope you don't have rabies" she taunted as The Beast studied her trying to find a weakness, Emma took out the knife she took from Stevens and got into her fighting stance

"Tell me detective why do you persist so much when you know I'm stronger than you" The Beast asked.

"Because if I don't then who will be left to stop you?" Emma answered 

"Don't you see you fight a lost cause, you will lose"

"Maybe...maybe I will but I'll go down doing something" Emma said defiantly 

"You would rather die for people who don't even care about you instead of helping me rid the world of those who don't know what pain is...who don't know suffering.."

"Who don't have the same values as us, yes we've heard this all before, they're impure, not worthy of life etcetera, etcetera...yeah I would" Emma interrupted "Just because I have had a bad past does not mean for one second that I agree with you" 

"Then you will die a traitor" The Beast snarled 

"Then stop talking about it and get on with it" Emma yelled back as she got ready to fight him for the last time, The Beast roared and started charging towards her, Emma sidestepped easily and managed to give him a large cut down his rib cage, he cursed at the already healing wound as Emma turned around twirling the knife in her hand.

"Come on Dennis help me out here" she called trying to reach out to him and get his attention.

"You won't be seeing Dennis again!" The Beast cried out defiantly, before shaking his head slightly

"He's losing control" Emma thought a small smile making it's way to her face "Looks like you might be wrong about that Beasty" Emma answered causing The Beast to lash out at her again, she blocked the blow and slashed the knife at his face cutting the skin on his cheek, The Beast kicked her in the gut winding her before he backed away slightly, staring at her with hatred.

He was about to charge at her again when his hands went to the side of his head and he started yelling in pain 

"Ahh what, what is happening?!" The Beast yelled collapsing on the floor "No why are you doing this?" 

"You rule is at an end vile creature" Orwell spoke

"Yeah get outta our head stupid Beast" Jade's fiery voice yelled defiantly

"Your not enough to stop me, I am more powerful than you know!" The Beast growled

"Maybe alone but together we can" Kevin suggested 

"Kevin why are you awake you weakling?" The Beast lashed out

"Don't listen to him Kev" Barry reassured before his voice switched back to Kevin's weaker and softer voice

"You have caused enough trouble, you've hurt people...killed people and we can't let that carry on" Kevin said as confidently as he could

"I did this for you...you fool"

"No you did this for yourself I never asked you to kill anyone for me and I'm sorry but that just isn't good enough"

"You were always weak...I can make the world a better place for us a world where no one can hurt us"

"As much as I'd love that to happen it just can't I'm sorry about this but it is time for you to go"

Emma watched this internal fight happen in front of her and was amazed to see so many different alters working together for the same cause, she felt a bit of pride for all of them for putting aside their differences and working together to neutralise The Beast.

"I still have followers you cannot win" The Beast groaned "The Horde will beat your little alliance"

"Uhh I'm sorry you were saying" Barry smirked

"For months I've let you reek havoc and allowed you to put us in harms way, I gave up my life for you because I thought you were right and that you would help Kevin, now I realise how wrong I was and I'm here to put you down you don't control us anymore" Dennis yelled 

"You don't control me I don't have to be afraid of you anymore" Hedwig chimed in before The Beast screamed in pain 

"No stop I will succeed....ahhh you cannot defeat me Noooo" The Beast yelled before he fell to the floor, Emma ran over to make sure they were alright and skidded on her knees next to them.

She heard muttering and leaned over to hear it better she just made it out and found him repeating the same thing over and over

"Kill the impure, kill the impure, kill the impure...do it now" 

Emma realised too late what that meant and The Beast clawed at the bite wound he'd left her and tearing a chunk of her armour off , before throwing her on the floor and snatching the knife off of her as it skittered onto the floor.

"If I'm going down then so are you" he said maniacally, attempting to plunge it into her chest until suddenly he was hit in the gut with three bullets from a gun which caused him to drop the knife and fall on the floor clenching the bullet wounds, which wouldn't be fatal since it was still The Beast but would hurt later on for the others before he staggered away and collapsed on the floor his last words were spoken by Kevin who simply said

"Finally it's over" with a sigh of relief before the body crumpled on the floor.

Authors note 

So we're heading towards the final few chapters of this story, it has been an absolute pleasure writing this story and I hope you guys have enjoyed reading it, I hope you enjoy this chapter and thank you so much for reading until next time:).


	59. Moving on

The cops had shown up half an hour ago and were busy investigating and clearing up the mess that the fight had obviously caused. Emma was sat at the back of an ambulance staring out at the display of officers doing various jobs whilst thinking back on past events. After the medics had patched up her shoulder they had cleared off to give her some privacy which she was extremely grateful for and they were now currently working on David who was still quite weak due to the drowning he'd just experienced, Emma tried to push back the memories of The Beast's teeth biting through her flesh, the desperate psychotic look he had whilst trying to kill her and more importantly to her which seemed to be the one causing the most concern right now was her killing Stevens.

"He would have killed Casey if you hadn't done it" she argued with herself but it still didn't do anything to ease the worry she felt after her momentary loss of control of her anger which caused the extreme violence, she hoped it would never happen again but she would have to keep an eye on it just to be sure. For now she just sighed as she turned to watch Casey who was fast asleep next to Kevin's dormant body, Emma hoped he would wake up soon but she was also hoping Dennis would be the one to appear first as it would probably help to ease Casey's mind somewhat to know that he was okay. He had been unconscious since David shot The Beast to save her and when the others took over from him, Emma knew how unsettling it must have been for them so it would probably take time for the to recuperate before making an appearance.

Briggs walked over to her clearing his throat, she stood up to shake hands with him before he started talking 

"You know I should've known you would pull a stunt like this" he smirked and Emma chuckled "How are you doing anyway huh?" 

Emma nodded before answering "I'm okay I think"

"Only okay?...Emma what's going on"

"Elijah Price managed to get away tonight, he was the mastermind behind all of this right from the beginning" Emma informed him

"And what about Mister Crumb over here?" Briggs asked nodding his head towards him.

"I believe he should be back to normal once he wakes up, The Beast was defeated and with no one supporting him I doubt he'll reform again" Emma explained

"Well we can't be completely sure on that" Briggs answered 

"Indeed hence why they'll be living close to me...at least there will be someone to hand should something happen"

"Emma he still broke the law..."

"That was the act of one alter who has been taken care of trust me the others will not be a problem"

"Laws are laws at the end of the day and technically I am supposed to turn you all in..." Briggs trailed off as he saw the look Emma was giving him before clearing his throat and saying "But I guess I could just let it slide besides it sounds like we have a bigger criminal on the loose at the moment"

Emma sighed in relief "Indeed...thank you Briggs if you need a hand or if you find anything let me know" she said before shaking his hand as a farewell and watching him walk away, David walked towards her shortly after sitting down next to her, they sat in comfortable silence for a while before David spoke softly

"How are you feeling?" 

Emma inhaled before replying "Free, I finally have my family back together and The Beast is gone what could be better?"

"They told me about Elijah...I'm sorry he got away Emma" David apologised, Emma shrugged 

"It was either you guys or him and honestly I think I made the right choice, we'll get him eventually right now I'm gonna call it a day and come back to it" 

David chuckled before turning to see Casey and Kevin "How is she?" he whispered 

"I think she'll be okay when they wake up, she needs confirmation that their fine but I think things will start going back to normal before long...how about you?" Emma asked cryptically.

"Still a bit weak but I'll survive...honestly I'm more worried about what Audrey will say about this" he replied, Emma smirked a bit at that.

"I wonder who she'll be more pissed at you or me" Emma wondered and David laughed

"Probably me but she also won't refrain from blaming you for some of it either"

"I don't know what your talking about" Emma replied pretending to be completely oblivious to past events before giving up and laughing hysterically.

"I haven't seen you in such a good mood since we started the case" David smiled at her

"I guess I'm just glad we all made it...there were times when I really thought we wouldn't make it"

"And yet here we are" David reassured 

"Indeed, I think that calls for a drink wouldn't you agree?" she asked, David turned to face her giving her a stern glance until he realised the huge grin that was threatening to break through "I'm messing with you" Emma joked "Although given the circumstances it would be nice" she added, David smiled before nodding 

"Fine you can have one but I will be counting" David relented with a firm warning before they settled down into a comfortable silence again he asked "So what now?

"We move on...whatever form that takes together" Emma replied.

David couldn't have agreed more with that.


	60. Surprise Dennis

As soon as everything had been taken care of with The Beast Dennis had begged Barry for the light 

"I have to make sure she's okay Barry" Dennis pleaded Barry sighed heavily

"Dennis come on man give me a break already, I'm exhausted we all are can't you just wait a little longer" Barry asked exasperated

"Barry please...I just need to see her" Dennis breathed, Barry rolled his eyes before saying

"Well I suppose if it will give me some peace and quiet for a bit then fine you can have it" 

"Thank you Barry" Dennis said relieved 

"Don't mention it have fun" Barry smirked before letting Dennis take control of the light.

Dennis's eyes fluttered open as he inhaled sharply as he took in his surroundings, surprisingly they were back home instead of at the hospital which was actually more of a relief than anything else, he heard a gasp to his left 

"He's awake" Casey's beautiful voice sounded "Dennis is this you?" she questioned leaning over him and squeezing his hand which he returned before sitting up slightly with a groan and bringing her close for a kiss he felt her relax after a few seconds before returning the kiss, how he'd missed this, he hadn't known how much time had passed since he last had the light but he knew it had been quite some time.

"Oh yeah that's gotta be him" Emma called walking over to them as they broke away 

"Will there ever be a time when you won't be here to kill the moment?" Dennis asked as he broke the kiss.

"Ha, ha you can dream on" Emma smirked "How're you feeling Dennis?"

"I feel great, in fact I haven't felt this good in a long time" he answered which was true, he felt like a huge weight had been taken off his shoulders with The Beast now gone, Dennis didn't feel like he was under any pressure which was a huge relief, he hadn't realised how much fear he had actually been living in until now.

Emma's phone went off and she sighed as she looked at the name on the screen "Looks like I gotta take this, I'll catch up with you guys later okay" she nodded at them both before heading outside leaving Dennis and Casey alone together and Casey joined him on the bed.

"Emma wasn't sure that you would wake up so soon, she said it must have been crazy for all of you guys and that it would take some time to settle down...I'm glad you came though" Casey smiled at him.

"Well it took a lot of effort to convince Barry I thought I was gonna have to grovel at the guys feet at one point" he admitted which made Casey laugh

"I can't imagine you grovelling" she mused

"I would do anything if it meant I can be with you" Dennis promised taking her hand and pressing his lips between her knuckles before looking into her troubled looking eyes "What's wrong?" he asked her softly.

"I have something to tell you, but there is no easy way to say it" Casey answered quietly, looking away from him briefly, Dennis started panicking had something happened whilst he was away?, was it because of what he did?, was he leaving her?. A million other questions sprang to mind and he gulped suddenly his mouth felt incredibly dry, but he managed to keep his composure and squeezed her hand reassuringly.

"Tell me anyway" he whispered feeling the nerves build up in his stomach as he waited for her to tell her he news, she leaned in closer resting her forehead on his, taking deep breaths until she was ready to answer.

"Dennis...I'm pregnant" she said in an almost inaudible tone leaving Dennis gobsmacked for a few seconds.

"Pregnant?" he repeated staring right into her eyes for confirmation "Are you serious?" he asked and she nodded looking away before he cupped her cheek and forced her to look at him.

"I know it's a lot to take in and you've just got back but I had to tell you, I know it's a huge responsibility for both of us and I'll understand if you don't want to be apart of it" Casey started rambling only to be cut off by Dennis's chaste kiss.

"Oh Casey, my incredible, mad and beautiful Casey...are you kidding me, you have been the only brightness I've had in these dark few months, my strength, you made me feel human when everyone else made me feel like a freak, like I was wanted and...and now I come back to find everyone is okay, The Beast is gone and to top it all off...the love of my life is now pregnant and carrying our child...do you really think I would run away from that?, it's gonna take more than a baby to scare me away I'm afraid...your stuck with me now forever and ever" Dennis grinned as he brought her in for another kiss feeling her smile against his lips as tears of joy made their way down both of their faces, as they broke away he placed a hand carefully on Casey's abdomen and whispered "I'm gonna be a father" he choked back a sob as Casey pressed her hand on top of his.

"Not just a father...a great father" she told him making his heart swell with pride at the beautiful woman he loved who was carrying a child, their child he laid her down on the bed and kissed her abdomen before travelling up to her lips.

"I love you Casey" he whispered as he settled down next to her on the bed wrapping a protective arm around her.

"I love you too Dennis" she replied stroking his head until they both fell into a deep sleep, both as nervous but excited future parents who were wondering what the future would hold.


	61. Getting along

Whilst he was asleep Dennis was pulled back into the room of chairs, he was slightly annoyed by that since he had hoped he could spend more time with Casey. He turned to face Barry who had a knowing smile on his face.

"What?" Dennis asked him

"Oh I think you know what" Barry told him as Dennis looked at him with a confused face making him roll his eyes "You know about the baby congratulations man" Barry said patting him on the shoulder with a beaming smile, making Dennis feel more confused.

"Your not mad?" he questioned suspiciously 

"What no quite the opposite actually...why would I be mad?" Barry asked raising his eyebrows, Dennis looked down a look of embarrassment appeared on his face.

"What's the main reason I was banned from the light?" Dennis mumbled and Barry sighed feeling slightly ashamed in his participation in Dennis's banishment.

"Look I made a mistake about you Dennis I realise that now and maybe if we treated you and Hedwig better maybe none of this would have happened at all ...I was just looking out for Kev and I guess in the process I got a bit power hungry, but times have changed I see that now, I mean your gonna be a father for crying out loud I don't think anyone saw any of us settling down with someone and starting a family and yet here we are and if that doesn't tell me how far you've come I don't know what will" Barry shrugged before looking up at Dennis "Wait Dennis are you crying?" he asked before Dennis brought him in for a bear hug completely surprising him before he returned the hug gladly.

"Thank you Barry" Dennis said gratefully smiling down at him

"S'okay Dennis...besides I think Uncle Barry has a great ring to it" 

Dennis smiled at that

"Now come on what are you waiting for? let's go tell the others" Barry said excitedly before running towards everyone else who were sitting in their chairs expectantly.

Once the news was said many of the others stood up to congratulate him which Dennis was not expecting, Orwell was happy he would have someone to teach his history to, Jade basically said how much of a bad influence she will be on the kid earning her a stern look from Dennis.

Hedwig was ecstatic and was jumping up and down excitedly shouting "I'm gonna have a baby brother etcetera"at the top of his voice.

After everyone else had settled down and went back to doing their own thing, Dennis noticed Patricia standing in the corner away from everyone else staring at him through slitted eyes , he knew he shouldn't go over there but he plucked up the courage and walked over to her slowly.

"So she's pregnant then" Patricia spat, she looked so frail now she reminded him of a skeleton, it was almost like all the energy had been drained out of her, the only thing that seemed to have a little fire left were her eyes. 

"Yes" Dennis replied through gritted teeth

"A result of your disgusting urges, how sad you were doing so well before" Patricia scolded

"Your wrong Patricia, Casey is the love of my life always will be and the child she is carrying is the result of that love, this has nothing to do with my habits, why can't you just be happy for me like everyone else?" 

"You think that just because you saved them from our plan that they'll accept you, that they'll forgive you, your pathetically naive Dennis" Patricia sneered

"Your wrong Patricia they are willing to accept me, they would do the same with you if you weren't so goddamn stubborn" 

"And how long will you think that will last hmm, you were still apart of our plan after all and once they realise the damage you've caused what's to stop them from throwing you away again"

"At least I'm trying to be good" Dennis told her before turning to walk away

"Dennis" Patricia called out making him turn his head "I hope you will prove to be a better parent than the ones we had"

Dennis said nothing to that as he sighed and walked away, leaving Patricia to be alone once more, he was so lost in thought that he didn't realise Kevin was next to him until he tapped his shoulder, startling him.

"Kevin" Dennis said in a surprised tone, it had been ages since him and Kevin had talked since they had put Kevin to sleep but their relationship hadn't been the best just before that either, they had pushed each other away and now he felt extremely guilty about that.

"Dennis...I uh I just wanted to say congrats on the baby and all that" Kevin stammered looking down awkwardly

"Thank you Kev" he said placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder

"How does it feel?...having a family...to feel safe?" he asked

"Honestly it feels amazing but overwhelming at the same time...you should meet them someday when your ready" Dennis suggested.

"Oh uh...yeah I would like that but maybe not right now, I still don't know how well I could cope out there" he panicked.

"It's okay Kev, you don't have to do it immediately, but when your ready just let us know" Dennis reassured.

"Okay thank you, I have missed you, you know" Kevin whispered

"I know but you don't have to feel sorry for it, I'm partly to blame as well"

"Yeah but I pushed you away, my best friend, my protector...that was wrong I should have stood up for you not push you away" Kevin mumbled

"It's in the past at least now we can try again, I don't blame you for any of it I promise" Dennis answered, Kevin nodded then and sniffled before replying

"I would like that...to start again thanks Dennis" he smiled

"No problem Kev" Dennis smiled back before Kevin walked away, it was a small conversation but it was a start, it was probably the nicest conversation they had had for quite some time so Dennis was happy with that.

"Wow you seem to be getting along with everyone today huh" Barry called, pulling Dennis out of his thoughts "I think that's the first time he's had a convo with anyone that wasn't forced" he said surprised.

"It's a start at least" Dennis replied 

"Indeed it is, I get the feeling things are gonna be a little bit different now" Barry sighed 

"Perhaps, but it will be a good change I reckon"

"Huh when did you become the wise one out of all of us?" Barry teased and Dennis chuckled feeling accepted for the first time in ages.


	62. Woodland Conversation

Emma was walking down a familiar track in the woods just opposite the house, she held a big bouquet of roses in her hands as she strode casually along the twisting path. She stopped in a clearing, where there was a small plaque next to a lonely oak tree, Emma walked over to the plaque before kneeling down and dusting off some of the leaves that had fallen on it and was covering up the writing and setting the roses down above it.

"Hope these are okay" she sighed a small smile appeared on her face as she traced the gold painted letters with her finger "I'm sorry I haven't been down in a while it's just...well a lot has happened in the past few months...The Beast is gone and there's a new addition to the family on it's way, I wish you could see them, I know you would have loved them especially Casey, she's a lot like you actually..." Emma paused slightly to swallow back the lump in her throat "You always said the house was too quiet, looks like it's gonna get a little bit noisier now...god I miss you so much, I made some pretty stupid mistakes recently but I'm gonna get better I promise, I know that's what you would have wanted so I'll do it for you besides I have people to kick my ass if I don't" Emma chuckled as her finger finished tracing the last letter on the plaque she said one last thing before deciding to leave "I hope I've made you proud...I love you" she muttered, kissing her fingers and placing them on the plaque just above her name before standing up to leave reading the words inscribed on the plaque for the thousandth time

Laura Jessica Ennis

Much loved friend and family member

Forever in our hearts 

Emma turned around and saw Dennis walking towards her

"Hey" she called 

"Hi, I wasn't interrupting was I?" Dennis asked

"Hmm, no, no I was ahem, just finishing up" Emma replied looking back at the old oak tree and the roses lying at the base of the trunk.

"It's a nice place to have her" Dennis commented 

"Yeah...she always liked it here it seemed only right to bury her here" Emma sighed before turning to face Dennis "What can I do for you Dennis?" 

Dennis walked a few paces forward before turning on his heels again

"Do you remember anything about your father Emma?" Dennis asked, Emma's face darkened a bit as a frown appeared on her face.

"Not really, I was abandoned when I was still quite young but I would like to think he was a good man, the type that would be kind and caring and wouldn't have given me up unless he really had to...Why, what's brought this up all of a sudden?" Emma asked, Dennis sighed before leaning on one of the thicker tree trunks in the clearing and holding onto a branch.

"I don't know anything about my father really...I remember glimpses but they're brief and not much to go on, I guess what I'm trying to say is that I haven't grown up with a positive relationship with either of my parents, one being absent and the other being you know..." Dennis shivered as he remembered Kevin's mother.

"Your point being" Emma interrupted his thoughts 

"Well what if I fuck it up, what if I become like that...I dunno if I'm cut out for being a parent when I've had such little positive parenting experience myself" Dennis sighed, closing his eyes to fight back the stinging tears.

Emma walked over to him resting a comforting hand on his shoulder before she spoke

"Dennis...I know it must feel terrifying right now becoming a parent is the biggest responsibility for anyone to take on but in a way your lucky"

"How am I lucky?" Dennis asked confused

"Because all that trauma, all that abuse you went through and Casey went through has given you the knowledge on what not to do with your child, you can learn to be a better parent than the ones you had based on your experiences" Emma explained

"Huh I never thought of it that way" Dennis replied

"Honestly just make sure that the kid has fonder memories of their parents than we do about ours, if you can do that then your doing it right, for what it's worth I think your gonna be a great father Dennis" Emma consoled

"And if I'm not?" Dennis asked some of that fear coming back to him

"Do you love the kid?" Emma asked

"More than anything in the world" he answered 

"Then you should be fine"

"Yeah but what if I'm not?"

"Then I'll be here to kick your ass if your not if Casey doesn't get to you first"

Dennis chuckled at that "Thank you Emma, for everything" he said

"Don't mention it" she said waving the gratitude away with a hand "Oh I've been meaning to give you this for awhile and since...well since there probably won't be a better opportunity...here" Emma said, handing Dennis her house keys.

"Why are you giving these to me?" he asked looking down at the three golden keys that were attached to a silver key ring on a chain.

"I...uh I'm gonna be away for a while, a new lead on Elijah has just come up and I wanna go check it out" Emma said sheepishly

"Emma can't you just let it go?" Dennis sighed

"I wish I could but if I turn a blind eye and he's given time to recuperate, to regain strength... I don't know what he'll do next, you've seen what he's capable of I can't let him wonder about on the streets" Emma defended 

"How long will you be gone?" he asked 

"Dunno, maybe a few months, I'll be back in time for the kid...or at least try to be but I just have to do this" Emma shrugged 

"Good luck I guess" Dennis mumbled and Emma put on a small smile

"Thanks man, it's getting dark we should head back, trust me you don't want to be out here when it's dark, it's way too easy to get lost" she said before walking towards the track she had taken earlier, Dennis closely behind her.

They walked in a comfortable silence the whole way back, Dennis was wrapped up in his thoughts he could see Emma's point for going after Elijah but at the same time he just wished that she could let it go, but then he thought about how much pain and destruction he had caused and if he did come back who would be in danger if he did come back for them, he didn't want to live in fear of someone coming after him or his family and he supposed Emma didn't either which was why she was going after him.

"Well here we are I better get ready, remember what I said Dennis and if you ever get worried or nervous about something you have Casey and I'm only a message away until I get back, but like I said if you use your childhood as a guideline on what not to do then you should be fine" Emma reassured him, Dennis nodded feeling slightly better after their conversation.

"Have you ever wanted to find them again?" Dennis asked curiously

"What my parents?...there was a time when I was a kid I would have this fantasy in my head that they would come running back to take me back again but not anymore" Emma answered

"How come?" 

"Because I have a family of my own to look out for now" Emma smiled before turning and walking into the house, leaving Dennis to stand outside by himself to consider what she said.


	63. Reemergence

Three months later...

Elijah was entering his large office in his comic book shop where he had stored some important documents last time he was here, he was in quite a good mood as he had found a gang of thugs who were willing to work with him in the future, they would be essential to his plan to take down Crumb in the future. The documents in question happened to be Stevens files on each of his alters, Elijah was planning on using that to find their weaknesses and take him down that way. He stuffed the documents in his brown leather bag before locking the door behind him.

He was about to walk out when he felt like he wasn't alone, he turned to look around the shop but couldn't find anyone, shrugging it off as just nerves he carried on walking towards the exit until he heard footsteps coming from behind him, he turned around and saw nothing again.

"Is someone there?" he called out walking back a bit to see if he could see anyone, when he was adamant no one was there he turned around to carry on walking outside when all of a sudden a gunshot was sounded and it hit him right in the shoulder, he fell to the floor screaming in pain until he saw his attacker "Emma" he said surprised that she would do this.

"We have waited a long time to see you again my friend" Emma said in a malicious voice that, despite coming from her, didn't sound like her at all.

"How did you find...me?" he asked

"The gang you've been having meetings with for the past couple of months have been working for me, they led me straight to you for someone so smart you really do lack a certain amount of caution when trusting the common thug" she explained 

"Why are you doing this?" he panicked as he saw her take out a wicked looking knife, twirling it in her hand, she laughed hysterically an insane, dangerous laugh which spiked fear into Elijah paralysing him to the ground.

"You have been a pain in our ass for too long "Mr Glass", I think it's time to put a stop to that don't you?" she whispered kneeling down next to him an evil glint in her eyes.

"No, no please don't, this isn't you Emma please have mercy" Elijah begged, he had pushed her too far and now he realised there was no way out of this.

"Shush, shush, shush, I'm sorry Elijah the time for mercy has passed you are too dangerous to be kept alive I'm afraid" 

"Your not Emma who are you motherfucker who are you?" Elijah cried out until Emma put her gun to his head.

"Your right I'm not Emma I'm someone better...Emma has always been soft on you, she wanted to arrest you but look how well that turned out last time" she said whilst cocking her pistol "Oh well looks like I'll take care of you more...permanently"

"Who the hell are you?" Elijah whispered 

"You know I'm surprised you didn't do your research on us, all this time you were focusing on Crumb...maybe you should have been paying more attention to your sister instead cos I'm way more dangerous than Crumb could ever be" she chuckled as the realisation dawned on Elijah's face.

"Your one of them" he stammered "I thought you were gone"

"No, not gone simply biding my time before I took the light again, You see as much as Emma thought she got rid of us she was wrong about me at least I remained hidden, weakened but very much alive and now as the grand entrance to my first appearance what better way to start with a bang by killing you"

"No,no please don't" 

"No, no please don't shut up there's no dignity in begging for your life especially since I'm not giving it to ya" Emma spat.

"Emma why are you doing this?" Elijah begged, Emma huffed as her eyes narrowed, looking more like snake eyes.

"Don't call me that, that's not my name" she growled digging the gun closer to his head

"Then who are you?" Elijah whimpered

"My name is Jason and I'm the one who's gonna stop your reign of terror" Jason whispered psychotically, his finger coiling around the trigger "Goodbye brother" he sneered.

Elijah realised there was no way out of this and closed his eyes praying that this Jason would make it quick when all of a sudden he felt the pressure of the pistol that was pressed against his head subside as he heard Emma gasp as she forcefully took back control of the light. She tried catching her breath and dropped the pistol, her hands curling up into a ball as she fought against Jason's attempt at taking over again. After a few minutes Emma felt Jason's presence disappear and she turned to face her brother, Elijah was frozen in place with fear which then turned into shock and disbelief.

"What the hell was that?" he yelled angrily as Emma sat up cross legged next to him

"I'm okay just so you know" Emma retorted unfazed by Elijah's outburst 

"I don't give a damn about that...you nearly shot me in the head" Elijah growled, Emma sighed before replying 

"Okay one, that was Jason, my crazy ass alter not me, secondly a little gratitude would be nice especially since I did just save your life back there" Emma shouted angrily

"Thank you for saving my life, but what exactly are you planning to do with me now?" Elijah replied sarcastically, Emma studied him.

"I'm still gonna arrest you Elijah, one thing I agree with Jason on is that you are too dangerous to be left alone...I won't have you endanger my family or anyone else ever again" Emma decided, grabbing her phone and calling the police.

Three hours later Elijah was officially arrested and sent to a secure and secretive location far away from Philadelphia, Emma refused to find out the location of his whereabouts since she didn't want to have any information to do with where he was being kept, just to be on the safe side. 

Emma was sat on the bed in her temporary apartment thinking about the recent events, she had definitely not expected Jason to come back out of the blue but then she wasn't surprised he had popped up again given the horrors she'd endured over the past six months.She just hoped it was just a one off and that it wouldn't happen again, however she was a bit pissed that out of all of her alters Jason had to be the one to reform again.

"You couldn't keep me shut away forever Emma, I am apart of you and like it or not we are inseparable" he smirked as Emma shook her head trying to look out any form of communication he could use to reach her. Emma couldn't help but wonder if the others would form again or if that was just wishful thinking.

"Hello...are you there, can you hear me?...no of course not, why would you be, you didn't come back when I needed you before why would you come back now...he's back and I could really use a hand or two to get rid of him again...I don't want him hurting anyone from my new family...please if you are there just say something" Emma cried as she tried reaching out for the others again.

There was a long silence before a soft gentle voice whispered 

"Hello again Emma, it's been too long" 

"Harper?" Emma whispered "Is it really you?"

"It's really me it's good to see you again" she replied "Now we have work to do"


	64. Arrival

Dennis was in full blown panic mode as he raced to the hospital to meet Casey, the baby had decided to come earlier than expected which meant that Casey had been rushed to the hospital whilst Dennis had been working, as soon as he'd gotten the phone call he had dropped what he was doing, informed his boss and was now driving like a madman to the hospital to finally say hello to their child for the first time.

"Dennis you need to slow down man, what're you trying to do kill us?" Barry shouted

"The baby...it's on the way" Dennis answered frantically his hands tightening on the wheel as he raced through another set of traffic lights.

"That doesn't mean you have to drive like a madman and get us killed, look just take deep breaths and relax, Casey's okay she safe at the hospital, the baby's fine you have nothing to worry about just breath" Barry consoled him.

When it was clear he wasn't getting any better, Barry took over and took control of the wheel

"What the hell Barry!" Dennis snapped

"Sorry Dennis but I do actually want to get to Casey alive" Barry responded before driving the rest of the way to the hospital and pulling up outside, he sat in the car briefly before speaking to Dennis "Okay big guy we're here...are you sure your ready for this?" he asked nervously.

As excited as they all were about the baby they were all worried about caring for it, despite the fact that Casey had reassured all of them that they would be fine it still worried them. After taking a few deep breaths Dennis answered.

"No, not really but I wanna see them" 

"Okay, sounds good enough to me...good luck in there man" Barry replied before handing the light back to Dennis.

Dennis sprang out of the car and barged into the hospital, nerves making his stomach twist as he walked over to the nearest member of staff.

"Excuse me...my partner was checked in here recently...she was pregnant and the baby was coming...her name is Casey, Casey Cooke, I...could you possibly show me where I need to go" Dennis stammered his whole body trembling.

"Of course sir, no problem I'll take you there right away follow me" the nurse replied before leading him to a closed off section in another ward "She'll be right through there contractions have just started I'll just let them know your the father" she nodded as Dennis followed her over to where Casey and their newborn child would shortly be with them.

"Thank you" he whispered to the nurse before peeling back the long curtains, his eyes scanning the scene for Casey who was lying on the bed, breathing in and out as the midwives instructed her on what to do, her brown eyes met his and she reached out a hand which he walked over and took firmly in his before planting a kiss on her forehead and cradling her head with his other hand.

"Are you okay?" he asked quietly staring down at her, she nodded slowly a small smile made it's way onto her face before she cried out as another contraction hit her.

"Okay Casey the baby is on it's way, all you have to do is push alright, your doing really well so far, once this is over that's the hard part over with okay" the midwife spoke calmly to her.

"Dennis!" Casey cried as she pushed the first time squeezing the hell out of his hand as she clamped onto it for dear life, Dennis stayed with before cupping her cheek and looking directly into her eyes to ground her.

"Your doing great Casey your nearly, we're one step closer to seeing our baby I love you so much" he said encouragingly before leaning down and kissing her passionately and resting his forehead on hers.

Eventually after what felt like an eternity, their baby was finally delivered and the midwives wrapped them up in warm towels and cleaned them up before turning to Casey and Dennis with a smile before handing it to Casey.

"Congratulations you have a healthy, happy baby boy" she informed them.

It was at this point that Dennis completely broke down and started to weep tears of joy as he looked down at the little bundle all wrapped up in Casey's arms as he started breast feeding him. Casey looked up at him looking exhausted but extremely happy.

He was a quiet little man who had wispy bits of brown hair already sprouting on his head and stunning blue eyes which were already scanning their surroundings hungrily.

"He's got your eyes Dennis" Casey smiled up at him as he gently wrapped an arm around her and lowered the blanket carefully off of his son's face to get a better look at him "Would you like to hold him?" Casey asked, Dennis gulped nervously before nodding and carefully taking their son and holding him close to him.

"He's perfect" Dennis whispered, crying again before bringing Casey close to him for another kiss "I love you what do you want to call him?" he asked Casey quietly not wanting to disturb him too much.

"Lucas...after my father Luke...Lucas James Crumb" Casey decided after pondering over it for a while, Dennis smiled and nodded at the name

"I love it" he replied before he leaned down and kissed his sons forehead " Welcome to the family Lucas James Crumb " he whispered to him, watching him sleep in his arms.

Casey fell asleep before long completely worn out by the long day she had had, which left Dennis alone with Lucas who was still sound asleep in his arms, a smile graced his face again as he started talking to his son.

"You'll never know just how lucky you make me feel, I never thought this day would happen but now that it has I couldn't ask for a better son, you and your mother are the most precious thing in this world to me and I promise that you will never be afraid or alone like we were...I'll protect you and look after you until my dying breath you can rely on that, the others can't wait to see you, Hedwig can't wait to see his little brother" Dennis chuckled "One day you'll understand my DID but right now you have twenty three different people who will always be here for you, as well as your mother and a crazy but wonderful detective called Emma Price, you'll always be loved that much I promise" Dennis told his son softly before looking up at Casey who was staring back at them with a smile on her face, he walked over to her kissing her before handing Lucas back over to her before joining them on the bed and drifting off to sleep next to them.


	65. Free

Emma had come home after several months undercover looking for her brother, or at least that's what she had told Casey. The truth was that most of that time had been spent trying to get rid of Jason before she came home, since she knew how unstable he was and didn't want to put Dennis, Casey or their son in harms way until she was sure he was taken care of.

It had been a long and strenuous few months but with Harper's help Emma managed to subdue him, the only con was that it meant she had to lose Harper again as well which had been completely heartbreaking for her, after getting her back after so long it had all come to an end just as quickly.She rang the doorbell to announce them of her presence and waited for an answer.

The door opened up slowly and standing there was Dennis who stared at Emma for a while in shock before smiling down at her bringing her in for a hug

"God it's good to see you again" he said as he broke away

"Likewise" Emma beamed back at him

"Where have you been Emma? you've been gone for months" Dennis asked 

"I had some things to take care of before I came back" Emma answered, tapping her forehead, Dennis knew immediately what she meant and nodded in understanding.

"Is it sorted?" he asked, Emma heaved a massive sigh 

"Yeah it's sorted" she confirmed solemnly as they both walked inside the house "How are things here?" she asked, Dennis nodded 

"Really well, couldn't have asked for a better son" he beamed proudly

"I'm glad to hear that is Casey..."

"She's fine, she's resting at the moment with Lucas" he assured her, Emma smiled then

"Lucas, it's a good name" she nodded "Can I see them?" she asked

"Sure I don't see why not I'll just let her know your here" Dennis nodded as he climbed up the stairs, finding Casey fast asleep in the armchair in the nursery next to where Lucas was fast asleep in his crib.

He walked over to her and softly shook her shoulder to wake her, when she stirred slightly and opened her eyes, he smiled warmly at her.

"Hey, Emma's downstairs if you want to see her" Dennis told her gently stroking the back of her hand, Casey hummed in response 

"I'll be down in a sec" she spoke softly, Dennis nodded before kissing her forehead and glancing down at their son who was smiling in his sleep before walking downstairs to see Emma again.

"She'll be down in a second, she had to look after Lucas and Hedwig today so she's pretty tired, she's been dying to see you though...so what happened to you?" Dennis asked

"Jason took over and tried to kill Elijah, don't worry he didn't he's locked up in a secure prison which I don't know the whereabouts to, anyway I managed to gain control just in time where I found out Harper had reformed as well...we worked together to subdue Jason, he was a tough son of a bitch to get rid of but...I knew I couldn't come home until he was taken care of, I wouldn't risk putting you guys in danger that's why I was gone so long" Emma explained apologetically.

"How did you do it, how did you get rid of him?" he asked, Emma closed her eyes as tears tried to escape

"Maybe one day I'll tell you but not today...it's still too fresh" she explained before their conversation stopped as Casey stepped into the room "Hey Casey" Emma greeted with a small smile.

"Hey" Casey whispered back before running over to give her a tight hug "I've missed you so much" she cried, hot tears falling onto her shoulder, seeping through the shirt.

"I know I'm sorry, I was just keeping you safe" Emma apologised, rubbing her back and shushing her "Besides you've been busy...how is he?" she asked as they broke away, Casey dried her tears.

"He's just amazing Emma...would you like to see him?" Casey asked

"Only if it's convenient" Emma replied with a shrug

"It's okay, he's asleep at the moment and when that boy falls asleep nothing will wake him up" Casey assured her

"Okay...maybe I'll see the little guy for a few minutes" Emma said after some consideration as she followed Casey up the stairs to the nursery where they approached the crib.

Emma fell in love with him as soon as she saw him wrapped up in blankets, sleeping soundly in his crib. 

"Damn you two made one good looking kid" Emma smirked as Casey hit her playfully on the shoulder

"Don't sound too surprised" Casey said sternly as Emma chuckled quietly before reaching into her pocket

"Well I know it's not much but...here you go little guy" Emma whispered before placing a small lion plush toy next to him before stroking the hair on his head until Lucas reached out to touch her hand.

"Something tells me you two are going to get along fine" Casey smiled at her as she watched Emma and Lucas interact with each other.

"I think so to" Emma replied cheerfully before gently removing Lucas's hand and settling it down on the blanket "He's beautiful Casey...I'm sure your parents would be just as proud as I am right now" Emma said, her chest swelling with pride.

"Thank you so much Emma, you know me and Dennis have been talking recently...you are the only person who has been there for us through the rough and the smooth, you've protected us and given your life for us many times, your the reason all of this has been possible" Casey said gratefully

"And you are most welcome Casey, but there is no need to thank me" Emma interrupted 

"Let me finish first, me and Dennis have been waiting to ask you if you would want to become Lucas's godmother" Casey asked 

Emma stood there looking gobsmacked before chuckling nervously 

"Surely you could think of someone else better for that title" she suggested and Casey looked down at the floor shaking her head.

"That's just it Emma...we can't your the best person we can think of for it...we couldn't think of anyone better to be a godparent to Lucas" Casey remarked staring down at her son who was staring up at them with those brilliant sky blue eyes.

"Then...I would be honoured to be his godmother, sorry kiddo looks like your gonna have to get along with me now" Emma chuckled tickling his chin which made Lucas giggle as a smile plastered his face "Oh your okay with that huh, well that's good because so am I" she cooed as Lucas tried to grab her fingers, Emma looked up at Casey who had a look of surprise on her face "What?" she asked.

"Nothing it's just your really good with him" she commented

"Apparently I'm good with children, that's good to hear isn't it little guy" she mumbled to him, kissing him on the forehead before leaning back up, watching him as he fell back asleep.

"Goodnight buddy"Emma whispered as they left the nursery again to go downstairs.

After everything that had happened, all the pain and suffering they had all endured all three of them still found it hard to believe that it was finally over, but as hard as it was to believe they had finally made it and now the future was looking extremely bright for all of them. 

"So this is what it feels like" Emma said wistfully 

"What?" Casey asked

"Being apart of a family" she answered happily before settling down in the sitting room next to the fire all of them finally feeling free.

So this is the final chapter of this story, it has been a pleasure to write this story and I am gutted that it's over but I honestly feel like I couldn't have ended it on a better note. Thank you guys so much for reading this story I hope you have enjoyed it. I am currently writing up a sequel for this story about titled Repercussions which I will put up as soon as possible for you to read, other then that if any of you have any ideas on things you would like me to write about let me know and I'll see what I can do. Again thank you very much for reading this story, until next time :):).


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